Pregnancy and Lifestyle: Short- and Long-Term Effects on Mother's and Her Children's Health

Pregnancy and the foetal environment can have a profound influence on many chronic diseases, such as diabetes obesity, breast cancer, and cardiovascular diseases in both the mother and her offspring. Much of the influence of the intrauterine milieu is transmitted to the next generation through epigenetic mechanisms. However, the specific pathways affected through these mechanisms by lifestyle during pregnancy are largely unknown and deserve further study.