Pregnant women who are exposed to chemicals used in kitchenware and textiles could trigger obesity in their granddaughters, research shows. The synthetic PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) have already been linked to breast cancer in daughters and are more likely to affect future generations if the mother has low cholesterol. The Public Health Institute in California found that obesity was up to 2.3 times higher among 20-year-old women whose grandmothers had been exposed to the chemicals. Environmental chemicals in the blood of pregnant women... could induce obesity at least as far as the grandchild generation, even when the grandmother and mother do not have obesity.’The researchers studied 213 sets of grandmothers, mothers and granddaughters using data from the past 60 years. Dr Cohn said: ‘These findings may help to explain the current US and worldwide increases in obesity in young adults.’

Source: Daily Mail May 09, 2020 00:01 UTC