Sugary diet during pregnancies affects girls not boys

A STUDY found that too much sugar in
pregnancy can harm the nutrients reaching
unborn female foetuses. But unborn sons,
made of ‘slugs, snails and puppy dogs’ rails’,
are unaffected, the team found.
Tests on other mammals showed sugar
intake had different effects on their unborn
male and female offspring.
Female foetuses of rats given the equivalent
of 26 teaspoons of fructose solutions – a
natural sugar found in honey, fruit and
some vegetables – a day, were found to
have smaller placentas than those on a low
sugar diet.
This suggests that the sugar blocks
nutrients, said researchers at the University
of Auckland, New Zealand.
The findings, published in Endocrinology
journal, also noted higher fructose and
blood glucose levels in the female foetuses
of fructose-fed rats were higher than their
make counterparts, or any of the rat
foetuses given only water.
The study author Dr. Mark Vickers is
currently conducting a follow-up study. He
claimed the findings highlighted the effects
of a “marked increase” in sugar
consumption by pregnant women.
He said: “There has been a marked increase
in the consumption of fructose-sweetened
beverages and foods, particularly among
women of reproductive age.
“This is the first time that it has been
suggested that female and male foetuses
react differently to maternal fructose
consumption and that these sex-specific
changes may be associated in changes in
placental development. ”