“重量級”科學研究：肥胖乃是命中註定

If you can’t shift those extra pounds, no matter how hard you try, blame your mother. Research suggests we can be programmed to be fat while still in the womb, with a mother-to-be’s lifestyle affecting the health of her baby for years to come。

如果你再怎麼努力也減不掉身上那些贅肉，有可能是你老媽的錯哦！研究表明，準媽媽的生活習慣會影響嬰兒日後的健康。所以，有些人還未出生就註定是個胖子。

It is thought that her diet, the amount she exercises, whether she smokes or drinks alcohol and even which pollutants she is exposed to can alter the DNA of her unborn child. The changes are not to the letters of the code of life itself, but to its ‘punctuation’. These chemical marks can activate, silence or crank up genes and their actions。

據研究，準媽媽飲食習慣、運動量、酗酒抽菸與否，乃至接觸過的污染性物質，都可能影響胎兒的DNA。當然，DNA的序列不會改變，只是給孩子的DNA留下印記。這些化學印記可激活、消除或加劇基因活動。

The latest evidence for the theory, which is known as epigenetics, comes from researchers at Newcastle University who analyzed the genes of children aged between nine and 11.

以上研究證據來源自紐卡斯爾大學研究人員提出的“表觀遺傳學”，他們研究過9-11週歲小孩的基因組織。

They specifically looked for genes that had the same letters but behaved differently in children who were overweight and those who were slim. Blood samples stored since the children’s births were then analyzed. This step showed that in many cases, youngsters who were overweight had displayed different chemical marks on their DNA at birth。

有些小孩偏胖或偏瘦，但基因序列相同。他們對此做了專門研究。小孩一出生他們就抽取血樣，並以此作爲研究的基礎。實驗顯示，很多後來變胖的小孩，其實剛出生時的基因組印記就已經不同了。

Dr Caroline Relton, who led the research, said: ‘This suggests that our DNA could be marked before birth and these marks could predict our later body composition.’ Dr Relton, whose findings are detailed in the journal PLoS Medicine, does not know why some DNA is marked in the womb。

負責這項研究的卡洛琳·雷爾頓博士說：“實驗表明，DNA在子宮裏就有所改變了。而這些變化能預測人們日後的體型。” 雷爾頓博士的研究成果已經發表在了PLoS Medicine雜誌上。不過，她坦言自己也不清楚爲何DNA在子宮裏就能發生改變。

But previous research suggests it is largely to do with the mother’s lifestyle. However, Dr Relton added: ‘These marks are open to change. I think this puts the onus on the individual to do something about the way their genes work.’

在此之前，研究認爲，這與準媽媽的生活習慣有大有關聯。但雷爾頓博士也說：“基因組印記的變化是持續的。出生以後的改變，確實跟個人的生活習慣有關。”