News
Exercise in Pregnancy
3rd November 2016
Exercise during pregnancy improves offspring's health
We came across an interesting article in relation to doing some exercixe during pregnancy.
Researchers identify effect on vascular smooth muscle into adulthood.
Regular physical exercise benefits everyone, also pregnant women. Physical activity not only improves their own health, but also that of their children. In a study published in "Experimental Physiology", researchers from Germany and the US discovered effects based on exercise that reach into adulthood.
Researchers from California State University San Marcos (USA) and Universitaetsmedizin Greifswald (Germany) undertook trials in pigs as their cardiovascular system responds to exercise in a similar way to that in humans. The pregnant swine were exercised on a treadmill for five days a week for 20 to 45 minutes. This duration is consistent with recommendations made by US gynaecologists.
"We assessed vascular function in offspring femoral arteries using in vitro techniques", explained the study leaders Sean Newcomer and Thomas Bahls. The study showed that the vascular smooth muscle in pigs, whose mothers had exercised during pregnancy, was significantly altered compared to that in other animals. Exercising obviously provided a powerful programming stimulus in the arteries.
Research is still in its initial stages, the scientists said. How these changes may impact the risk for cardiovascular diseases later in life still needs to be determined.