A new study conducted by Australian researchers has shown that women who tend to eat more junk food while pregnant may increase the chances for their children becoming obese as adults. Poor diet also leads to the baby being born with an addiction to fatty foods. The study also showed that babies born to mothers who indulged in a lot of junk food during pregnancy are less sensitive to opioids and are therefore more likely to overeat on junk food. When children are less sensitive to opioids, they need to eat more sugars and fats in order to achieve a “good feeling”. Opioids are the signaling pathways which allow us to experience rewarding feelings. Babies who are born with an addiction to junk food will find it permanently difficult to achieve or maintain a healthy body weight, as well as always have a predisposition for overeating junk food and becoming obese. Much more research is required within this field in order to establish possible techniques for intervention. The study was published in the FASEB journal.