Stress ‘affects growth of unborn baby’

Stress during pregnancy may affect an unborn baby’s development in the womb, research suggests.

Scientists who boosted levels of a natural stress hormone in pregnant mice found that while it caused mothers to eat more, the transport of energy-giving glucose to the foetus was impaired.

Lead researcher Dr Owen Vaughan, from Cambridge University, said: “Together with previous work, the findings show that maternal glucocorticoids regulate foetal nutrition.