Obesity in the womb
Foetus in the womb Photo: You Tube screenshot
Obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease are reaching epidemic proportions in New Zealand and around the world. We know that once these conditions take hold, it is very difficult to reverse them. So how could we prevent them from happening in the first place?
The answer to this complex question may lie with life in the womb. There is now decades of evidence to show that your lifelong risk of these diseases can be programmed by the environment you experienced before you were even born.
In fact, what happened to you in the womb may have more of an impact on your lifelong health than your genetics or your everyday environment.
Join Jasmine Plows as she explores the science behind this fascinating concept, and hear the personal story which motivated her to focus on this area of research for the rest of her professional life.
Other episodes in the series
Raising the Bar: Nuclear-free Aotearoa
Raising the Bar: Life among the robots
Raising the Bar: sharks and the brain
Raising the Bar: what drives terrorism?
About the speaker
Jasmine Plows Photo: University of Auckland
Jasmine Plows is a Ph.D. student at the Liggins Institute in Auckland. She studies how diabetes during pregnancy can lead to later obesity and type 2 diabetes in the baby.
Jasmine is combining research into maternal inflammation and the gut microbiome to develop new treatments for diabetes during pregnancy.
The aim of these treatments would be to improve the life-long health of both the mother and the baby, and reduce the number of cases of obesity and type 2 diabetes in the population as a result.
Photo: University of Auckland
Raising the Bar was recorded in association with the University of Auckland
