Poor prenatal nutrition could permanently damage function of insulin-producing cells
Infants with low birth weight have a higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
28/02/05 Scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center have discovered one reason why infants with low birth weight have a high potential of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. In studies of mice, the researchers found that poor prenatal nutrition impairs the pancreas's ability to later secrete enough insulin in response to blood glucose.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the incidence of low birth weight babies in the U.S. increased 12 percent between 1980 and 2000 among babies weighing 2500 grams (5 1/2 pounds), and the rate is up 24 percent in babies weighing 1500 grams or less in that timeframe. The CDC reports that 314,077 low birth weight babies were born in 2002, representing 7.8 percent of the births that year, the highest level reported in more than three decades. This is due in part to the increase in the number of multiple births, which also are on the increase.
The Joslin study, published in the March edition of Diabetes, reinforces what scientists have known from previous studies in humans: Infants with low birth weight -- typically defined as under five and one-half pounds -- have a higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
Other researchers involved in the Joslin study included co-authors Jose C. Jimenez-Chillaron, Ph.D., Marcelino Hernandez-Valencia, M.D.; also Carolyn Reamer, Simon Fisher, M.D., Ph.D., Allison Joszi, Ph.D., Michael Hirshman, Aysin Oge, M.D., Shana Walrond, Roberta Przybyla, Carol N. Boozer, D.Sc., of St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York, and Laurie Goodyear, Ph.D., head of the Section on Metabolism at Joslin. The research was funded by the American Diabetes Association and the Adler Foundation.
