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Grandma Gave Me Cancer: Pregnancy Diet May Affect Generations
Filed under: Nutrition: Health, In The News, Weird But True, Research Reveals
Craving a burger during pregnancy? You could be giving your granddaughter cancer. Credit: Getty Images
MSNBC reports that the study, conducted on rats, shows that the risks of a diet high in omega-6 fatty acids can be passed from one generation to another, even if the descendants have healthy eating habits.
Researchers fed the rats a typical American diet and therefore they suspect that the results would also be true if the study had been conducted on humans. Some of the pregnant rats were fed a diet high in omega-6 fatty acids and others got healthier fare. After the babies were delivered, they got healthy, moderate-fat diets, as did the mothers and later their grandchildren.
The granddaughters of the fat rats were 30 percent more inclined to develop breast cancer than those whose grandmothers ate healthy foods. However, when only one grandmother on either the maternal or paternal side ate poorly, the granddaughter had a reduced risk -- about 19 percent -- of breast cancer.
The study used a menu that was 43 percent fat, composed mostly of foods made with vegetable oil packed with omega-6s. A healthy diet, lead researcher Sonia de Assis of Georgetown University tells MSNBC, includes a fat intake of only 25 to 30 percent, maximum. "But with fast food and everything, a lot of people eat more than that each day," de Assis says.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
4-30-2010 @ 6:31PM
carole said...Hogwash! grandma did not give anyone cancer.
High-fat diet, nope.
You have to have a certain amount of fat in your daily diet to survive. It does not" make" you fat or have cancer. What makes you have cancer and become fat, is eating prepared foods, including chips, soda,and the many boxed and bagged products, which are the fast, not just fast foods, no the actual slip it in the oven or microwave "convenient foods: Grandma did not eat, nor cook convience foods, so don't blame it on "Grandma" sweetiepies.
Reply
5-03-2010 @ 1:51PM
dan johnston said...hogwash nothing , its called epigenetics...alot of research backs it up
5-01-2010 @ 1:05AM
CLM said...Uh, our grandmothers didn't eat the typical American diet as defined today. I'm calling Shennanigans on this one.
Reply
5-02-2010 @ 12:04PM
Heather said...My grandmother was not a rat, so I guess I don't have to worry about it. Researchers are REALLY putting our hard earned government hand-outs to work, aren't they?
Reply
5-02-2010 @ 6:12PM
Susan said..."Grandma Gave Me Cancer"? Are you kidding me?! Is this AOL or the National Enquirer? What a stupid article. It's just more propaganda in the never-ending quest to blame women and make them feel guilty.
Reply
5-03-2010 @ 6:36AM
Geneinne said...Its more likely the air quality, pollution in the water and junk being pumped into the air is giving causing cancer! My grandma lived a full life and my grandmother's sister danced on her 99th birthday.
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5-03-2010 @ 9:32AM
W. A. Harrell said...There is a body of science that suggests the stressors, including dietary ones, experienced by grandparents can manifest in the quality of health and longevity of future generations. Amy Hatch should have cited this literature. She should also have a caveat that she has a BA degree in communications and has absolutely no scientific credentials. Where does AOL get these people?
Reply
5-03-2010 @ 9:40AM
emailila said...I am very happy to see that someone is trying to find what causes breast cancer but this is ridiculous. Both my grandmothers lived to be 89 years old and my mother is 85. They drank fresh clean water, ate foods that had been neither sprayed nor preserved with chemicals and breathed non-polluted air. So... how can I blame my breast cancer on what they ate, drank or breathed? Let's find the real cause soon, please!
Reply
5-04-2010 @ 12:53AM
elin said...They're not blaming it on the "grandmothers" that DIDN'T eat bad food. You're not getting the point...
5-03-2010 @ 1:48PM
Dan johnston said...Hey everyone , its called epigenetics and its real. What your grandparents ate, smoked, inhaled or were subjected to does affect future generations. It means you would be pre dissposed to certain things like diseases.
Reply
5-03-2010 @ 2:04PM
oxjr said...I am afraid this article was lame. It isn't news that eating can cause problems in future generations old fashioned vices can cause problems by creating triggers that alter the genes. As an example, free radicals from too much smoked meat can activate the genes related to cancer, and those may be passed down. The human body is designed to handle free radical damage so I doubt that this is much of a problem except with people who go to excess.
The real problem is with the bio identical additives that are wrecking havoc with our bodies. I would have preferred an article about the rising infertility rates and and occurrences of cancers caused by things like bpa. I have heard that Native Americans, as a group are more likely to have generation health problems caused by bio identical toxins. The question is whether that is from were they live (exposure) or is it due to their genes.
Reply
5-04-2010 @ 12:34AM
Connie said...Shame on you for blaming grandmothers! Good grief! There are
so many variables in the scenario....I am a 18 year cancer survivor
and I'm willing to bet my cancer was caused by stress which has
thankfully been eliminated from my life. I am in a second marriage,
retired and enjoying a lovely life.
Reply