A new research conducted have shown that a mother's stress during the prenatal period can contribute to a long lasting impact on an infant's development that can be seen even through adulthood. Experts also consider the study evidences as an additional proof that can potentially show that prenatal stress can negatively create an impact to the child's life through a series of connection via the maternal gut bacteria.
The Study Conducted On Mice Reveals Stress Can Affect Offspring
In one of their statements released by News Medical Life Sciences, Tamar Gur, the lead researcher and assistant professor of psychiatry & behavioral health, neuroscience and obstetrics & gynecology at Ohio State claims that doctors and researchers are currently beginning to understand the fact that those naturally occurring bacteria are not just a silent presence in our body, but that they contribute to our health.
With the study having been conducted in mice, is was found that when pregnant mice were exposed to stress in the study, it appeared to change the makeup of the bacteria in both their guts and placentas, as well as in the intestinal tracts of their female offspring
Furthermore, experts have also found that mice with stressed mothers have struggled in tests which aims to gauge anxiety and cognitive health, as compared with female offspring of mice that were not exposed to stress during its pregnancy.
Maternal Gut Bacteria And How It Leads To Mental Health
Meanwhile, Gur is reportedly said to have claimed that the bacteria can be a good medium for researching the connection between a mother and her fetus. Moreover, according to reports released by Medical News Today, the microbes from a mother's gastrointestinal and reproductive tracts are the first ones to spread to the developing fetus and the newborn. Consequently, the gut bacteria might just hold the key for explaining as to why and how maternal stress can affect a person's mental health condition that can be observed for the rest of his life.
In one of their statements, Gur also believes that naturally occurring bacteria are not just a silent presence in our body, but that they contribute a great part to our health.
