London - Girls born to stressed mothers are themselves more likely to give birth prematurely, scientists have found.
Canadian researchers believe that stress can alter the genes, meaning mothers-to-be can pass it on to their babies – affecting pregnancies for generations to come.
The University of Lethbridge study involved subjected rats to stress late in pregnancy and observing their offspring.
The results, published in the journal BMC Medicine, found the daughters of stressed rats had shorter pregnancies than the daughters of those who had not been.
And remarkably, the grand-daughters of stressed rats had shorter pregnancies, even if their mothers had not been stressed.
Professor Gerlinde Metz said: “We show that stress across generations becomes powerful enough to shorten pregnancy length in rats and induce hallmark features of human preterm birth.” - Daily Mail