Research
Fish prove every pregnancy is a battle: Unexpected evidence for the food fight between mothers and babies
Phys.org ·
The Brief
- The article reports evidence in fish for a nutrient struggle between mothers and their embryos.
- Evolutionary theory predicts that mothers must keep some essential nutrients for themselves to survive pregnancy, while developing babies benefit from taking as many nutrients as possible.
- The sources provided do not give further details on the study's methods, species or findings.
Why it matters
It offers empirical support for the theory of maternal-fetal conflict over resources, which is relevant to how science readers understand the evolution of pregnancy and nutrient allocation.
Who’s affected
- evolutionary biologists
- reproductive biologists
- #evolution
- #pregnancy
- #fish
- #maternal-fetal conflict
- #nutrition
Left to their own devices, babies in the womb would suck their mothers dry. A developing baby benefits from taking as many essential nutrients as possible, but evolutionary theory predicts that to survive pregnancy, mothers need to keep some of these nutrients for themselves.