"Maternal obesity, combined with high fat, high sugar diets, makes it more likely that children will suffer from liver disease and face health problems such as obesity and heart disease later in life."

Combating childhood obesity by preventing 'fatty liver' in fetus

Peter Nathanielsz, one of the lead investigators on the projects commented on the significance of the results: "This research is important as throughout the world over fifty percent of women of reproductive age are overweight or obese. Maternal obesity, combined with high fat, high sugar diets, makes it more likely that children will suffer from liver disease and face health problems such as obesity and heart disease later in life.

"It wasn't until we saw the microscope slides for the staining of liver sections showing very high amounts of lipid in fetuses of obese mothers that we realized the dramatic impact of maternal obesity at such an early developmental time point. Histological analyses of these livers showing the condition steatosis, underlined the detrimental impact of maternal obesity on the developing fetus."