High Protein, High Stress for Baby

With diets such as the Atkins diet being a popular way to eat, we thought it was necessary to stress the importance of not trying any special diets during pregnancy. Recent research reported in the BBC News suggests, high protein, low carbohydrate diets should be avoided during pregnancy as they can lead to more stressed offspring.
The women from Motherwell, Lanarkshire, included in the study were advised by an obstetrician to eat very high levels of meat and low levels of carbohydrate to avoid a condition called pre-eclampsia associated with high blood pressure in pregnancy, she said. This study adds to the increasing evidence of the importance of the maternal diet and suggests that one of the ways in which it can have these long-term effects is by permanently altering stress hormone levels.
"We don't know why this occurs - it may be that the baby is put under stress during pregnancy which causes irreversibly high levels of cortisol."
But she added: "Given the recent popularity of low-carbohydrate/high protein diets, such as the Atkins diet, this data also suggests that these diets should be avoided during pregnancy."

BBC NEWS High meat diet 'can stress baby'
Sunday, 2 April 2006