More suggestions that you really are what she ate.

"Why is everyone getting heavier and heavier? One hypothesis is that maternal obesity before and during pregnancy affects the establishment of body weight regulatory mechanisms in her baby. Maternal obesity could promote obesity in the next generation." . . .

"We think DNA methylation may play an important role in the development of the hypothalamus (the region of the brain that regulates appetite)," said Waterland.

"Twenty years ago, it was proposed that just as genetic mutations can cause cancer, so too might aberrant epigenetic marks – so called 'epimutations.' That idea is now largely accepted and the field of cancer epigenetics is very active. I would make the same statement for obesity. We are on the cusp of understanding that," he said.

This seems right. The idea that maternal nutrition can have profound effects on progeny is comfortable for those of us involved in animal husbandry, and humans are animals too. We also pay attention to stress since that can have significant effects on blood chemistry and fetal development. I think I probably treat my livestock better than most gestating women are treated.

The bit that is most interesting to me is that the effects seem to increase over generations. You are what your mother ate, and her mother and her mother . . .