Diet before conception affects child's health

PARIS - A child's health can be compromised not only by a mother who smokes or drinks during pregnancy, but by the obesity and poor diet of both parents well before the act of procreation, researchers said on Tuesday.

What a mother and father eat, and whether they are seriously overweight, in other words, can have "profound implications for the growth, development and long-term health of their children before conception", they warned in a trio of studies.

The findings, reported in The Lancet, a leading medical journal, should heighten awareness of "preconception risk factors", the researchers said.