Eating lots of junk food during pregnancy or while breastfeeding may make childhood obesity more likely, a new study suggests. The pregnancy diet study was conducted in rats, not people. But the researchers argue that their findings show that mothers may pass their junk food diets on to their offspring and increase their obesity. The researchers included Stephanie Bayol, Ph.D., and professor Neil Stickland, Ph.D., of London’s Royal Veterinary College. ‘This study shows that a maternal junk food diet during pregnancy and lactation may be an important contributing factor in the development of obesity,’ they write in the British Journal of Nutrition. The researchers also put it more bluntly, stating that women shouldn’t see pregnancy and breastfeeding as ‘an opportunity to overindulge in fatty, sugary, and salty foods on the misguided assumption that they are ‘eating for two.” The researchers studied pregnant rats that only ate regular chow or ate a ‘junk food diet’ during pregnancy and/or while breastfeeding. The junk food diet included ordinary rat chow and biscuits, marshmallows, cheese, jam, doughnuts, chocolate chip muffins, buttery pancakes, potato chips, and caramel or chocolate bars bought at a British supermarket. The pregnant rats on […]