The prenatal environment is very important. That's a bit of an understatement. It is absolutely instrumental in programming the health of your child for the rest of his/her life. Although I highlighted vitamin D, B12 and probiotics in my previous posts, we have to keep the larger picture in mind. There is no single 'magic' nutrient that will optimize your child's health. Here's a great article that talks about prenatal care in the context of asthma. "A large body of evidence shows that the intrauterine and early childhood environments are crucial for development of diabetes and coronary heart disease, and asthma has been increasingly included in a similar category of diseases "programmed" in utero."
The authors present evidence for breastfeeding, vitamin D consumption, essential fats, probiotics and more. But we must acknowledge that that intrauterine environment that Mom provides during pregnancy is subject to influence from many variables. Deciphering the "influence of diet" alone is quite difficult. But even with those difficulties, there is enormous promise in elucidating this influence.
"Diet could modulate epigenetics, intestinal microbiota, physiological development, airway remodeling, and immune maturation – factors highly relevant to the etiology of asthma."
If we understand there is power behind a healthy diet in determining the child's risk of asthma, diabetes and heart disease, could the same be true of many other diseases? It is likely.
Where does that leave a pregnant Mom? Moms, you have a huge influence over your child's lifelong health. These next two years set the tone for the rest of his life. These years... you don't get back.
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