Female babies whose mothers suffer from lack of proper nutrition while pregnant may be more likely to become obese in later life, researchers have found.

A team from the University of Amsterdam looked at a group of 741 men and women who were conceived during the Dutch famine of 1944-1945 which followed the Nazi occupation.

They found that the rate of obesity among the women, who were aged 50 when the study took place, was higher than in the general population.

Many of these women had increased amounts of body fat in the abdominal area.

This particular depostion of fat is associated with "metabolic syndrome" which is also linked to high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Women whose mothers were exposed to the famine early in their pregnancies were especially prone to later obesity.

The researchers conclude that this difference cannot be accounted for by increases in food intake or other lifestyle factors such as socioeconomic status, smoking or alcohol.

Change in body chemicals

They believe the increased levels of obesity are likely to be due to a change in the way the body deals with accumulated fat, probably triggered by nutritional deprivation before birth.

The impact of exposure to famine, especially for the unborn, depends very much on its timing, with early gestation being a particularly vulnerable period.

The authors, writing in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, said: "The Dutch famine was a unique nutritional challenge.

"It started and ended abruptly, lasted only five months, and was preceded and followed by more or less adequate nutrition."

During the famine, rations varied between 400 and 880 calories per day and rose about 1000 calories after the May 12, 1945 liberation by Allied forces.

After the Allied liberation, the Dutch famine was immediately followed by a period of comparative affluence.

The men in the study exhibited only very mild effects.