Don't Blame Your Parents for Getting Fat: N-3 Fatty Acids May Save You!

Figure 1: Chemical Structure of
Alpha-Linolic Acid (HMDB v2.5)

It has been assumed that bad dietary habits of mothers-to-be increase the risk of their offspring to become obese. As Oosting et al. (Oosting. 2010) report the consumption of a diet high in n-3 Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LCP) may well prevent you from this fate, even if your mother was a fast food maniac:

A n-3 LCP-rich diet during postnatal life not only reduced fat accumulation by approximately 30% during the WSD [western diet = high fat, high carb] challenge from PN42 to 98 (p<0.001), but also led to a healthier plasma lipid profile, healthier plasma glucose homeostasis and less hypertrophic adipocytes compared to CTRL. This study shows that postnatal nutrition has programming effects on adult body composition and metabolic homeostasis. Additionally, it emphasizes that moderate alterations in fat quality during early postnatal life considerably affect adult metabolic health.

Well, to be honest these results won't really help you if already are fat, but if its still bearable they might well help you to preserve the status-quo.