Undernutrition during pregnancy and obesity, type 2 diabetes in your child

This paper in Current Diabetes Reports discusses how the so-called 'thrifty gene' effect (the tendency to conserve calories in the form of fat during times of famine, established through gene selection over thousands of years) occurs not only through this selection process, but can also manifest as a 'thrifty phenotype' when eating too little during gestation is followed later by overnutrition. This means that eating too little during your pregnancy can promote obesity and type 2 diabetes in your child if they consume excess calories later. Like with most everything else, moderation is key.