Maternal Nutrition, Low Nephron Number, and Hypertension in Later Life: Pathways of Nutritional Programming
This is yet another pathway by which forcing women into pregnancy artificially, whose bodies are not ready for pregnancy because of physiological imbalances, is upsetting the balance of our health. The evidence is piling up that the decisions made in pregnancy can haunt that unborn child’s health for decades into the future.
In this article, the idea is put forth that, when mom is not eating properly, the fetus will develop a lower number of filtration units (nephrons) in the developing kidneys. Later in life, as that child becomes overweight (because they will be at increased in risk for obesity because of the unhealthy mom), this will place excess burden on the kidneys, resulting in kidney failure. Add to this mix a society that doesn’t realize the dangers of NSAIDs on the kidneys and you’ve got a nasty increase in dialysis centers.