WHEN it comes to your destiny, when you were conceived can determine more than just your star sign.
Japanese researchers have discovered that people born in autumn are more likely to be skinnier and have less fat around their organs than those born in late spring.
This is because people who were conceived during colder seasons showed higher brown adipose tissue activity, the team wrote in Nature Metabolism.
Active brown fat means increased calorie burn, a lower BMI and less visceral fat - the bad fat around body organs linked with cardiometabolic problems.
A key factor in determining brown adipose tissue activity is parental exposure to a large temperature range over a 24-hour period, and lower average temperatures in the time immediately before conception.
They also suggested that it is the father's exposure to colder temperatures that has the effect - cold exposure leaves a signal in sperm that triggers the development of an embryo that is better adapted to metabolism and cold temperatures.
"The new findings emphasise once more the critical role of the preconception environment in shaping offspring metabolism and offer perspectives for understanding the coexistence of two global health challenges - obesity and global warming," said epigeneticist Raffaele Teperino in an editorial accompanying the study.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 11 Apr 25
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 11 Apr 25
