2020/02/28
Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
Faculty of Pharmacy, Keio University
Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development
A research group led by Professor Ikuo Kimura of the Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, and Professor Koji Hase of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Keio University, has revealed that short-chain fatty acids produced by the mother's gut microbiota during pregnancy influence fetal development, thereby contributing to the maturation of the child's metabolic functions after birth and ultimately suppressing the onset of obesity. It is hoped that these findings will be applied in the future toward the establishment of new therapies based on preemptive and preventive medicine through maternal nutritional management, such as improving the mother's diet and gut environment during the perinatal period.
The results of this study were published in the February 28 issue of the American scientific journal *Science*.
Please see below for the full press release.