A study has revealed that the mother’s weight gain during pregnancy increases the health risks of pregnant women and fetuses. Which can lead to some mental disorders like autism or depression.
The results of the study, published by Neuroscience News, in which researcher Professor Alexis Cecerin and colleagues in psychology and neuroscience at Duke University conducted tests on experimental mice fed a high-fat diet, which a high-fat diet in the mother stimulates immune cells in mother’s brain Male, not female, fetal mice consumed too much serotonin, a brain chemical that affects mood; Which subsequently leads to depression-like behavior.
Something similar could also be happening in humans, said Cecerin and fellow researcher Professor Staci Bilbo, suggesting that depression results from changes that occurred during fetal brain development.
Researchers believed that one reason that might explain this was serotonin, which is often called the “happiness hormone”; It is a molecular messenger in the brain whose levels are normally reduced in people with depression.
Cecerin and his research team found that depressed male mice born to mothers who ate a high-fat diet; She has less serotonin in her brain, both when she was still in the womb and as an adult.
