Fight Birth Defects With Good Nutrition

The Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis researchers have discovered that there is a connection between what pregnant women eat and how their genetic makeup is designed. This information is important because a personalized menu during pregnancy that is designed to be compatible with a pregnant woman's genetic makeup may benefit her unborn baby and help prevent birth defects. Genes and diet interact to cause birth defects, according to the university's research.

Most women do not find out that they are pregnant until after the baby's major organs are already developed. This means that damage may already be done. The best time to prevent birth defects through good nutrition is before the woman gets pregnant. Women are may become and especially those who desire to become pregnant need to understand the connection between good nutrition and preventing birth defects.

The goal of this particular study was to find out if there was a connection between diets lacking in fundamental nutrients like copper, had any interaction with the embryo's genetics during early development.

In the human body, copper is found in all body tissues and is a critical component to maintaining stable iron levels use in connective tissue formation, nerve cell functioning in the brain, and hormone production and also pigmentation. Copper can be found in such foods as shellfish, nuts, chocolate and liver.

One inherited disease linked to a deficiency of copper is Menkes disease. This is a metabolism disorder where there is a mutation in the ATP7A gene. Children born with Menkes disease have seizures, abnormal bone development, kinky, and colorless hair. The disorder is untreatable and fatal.

Understanding the role of copper in Menkes and other birth defects such as scoliosis (abnormal curvature of the spine), can lead to understanding the importance of proper diet guidelines for pregnant women and prepregnant women.

Further research may prove that there are more nutrients that affect the body's ability to develop normally or abnormally based on lack of a nutrient. Nutrition is critical for the developing fetus, understanding which nutrients cause certain birth defects can help physicians to better inform pregnant women regarding their dietary intake during and before pregnancy.

It is possible that with a better understanding of the role nutrition has to play in genetics and this fetal development; we may be able to prevent more birth defects from happening.

Some day women desiring to become pregnant may have a powerful arsenal in their individualized diet plan to help them avoid birth defects and give their unborn babies a better future.