Aging begins even before birth: Study

Children of mothers with lower oxygen levels in the womb may age faster in adulthood.

Ageing is a natural process that begins in utero.

The aging process starts even before birth, according to a new study, using rats to model pregnancy and fetal development.

The study showed that providing mothers with a loaded with antioxidants during pregnancy diet meant that their offspring aged more slowly during adulthood.

Children of mothers with lower oxygen levels in the womb may age faster in adulthood.

"Antioxidants are known to reduce aging, but in this case, shown for the first time the administration to pregnant mothers can slow the aging clock of their children," said the first author of Beth Allison, University of Cambridge in Great Britain.

The study, published in The FASEB Journal, also stressed that the environment we are exposed to in the womb can be as, if not more, important in the programming of adult-onset risk of heart disease.

The researchers found that adult rats born to mothers who had less oxygen during pregnancy had shorter telomeres - an essential part of human cells that affects cells age - that rats born to normal pregnancies.

The descendants' also experienced problems in the inner wall of blood vessels - telltale signs that had aged faster and were likely to develop heart disease earlier than normal.

However, when pregnant mothers in the group were given antioxidant supplements, this reduced risk among descendants of developing heart disease, the researchers noted.

The fetus, which received adequate levels of oxygen - benefit from a mother's diet antioxidant displayed longer telomeres than rats whose mothers did not receive antioxidant supplements during pregnancy.

Although conducted in rats, the research suggests that may be applicable in humans and focuses on the need for expectant mothers to maintain a healthy lifestyle for the sake of future heart health of your baby's life, the researchers noted.