It isn't surprising that pregnant women are supposed to eat healthfully. Good nutrition will help a baby develop properly. But did you know that poor nutrition can not only negatively effect a baby's development, but it can also cause long-term damage?

A study by the Royal Veterinary College and London's Wellcome Trust, shows that when pregnant rats are fed fatty, processed foods during pregnancy, their offspring have high levels of fat in their bloodstream and around major organs -- even into their teenage years.

Fat gathered around internal organs has been linked to development of type II diabetes. Male rats tended to have higher insulin levels and normal blood sugar, while female offspring tended to have low insulin, high blood sugar, and tended to be more overweight.

While further research is obviously necessary, this is just one more link between healthy diet and a healthy life.

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If you've been pregnant or are now, there's a good chance that you are carefully watching what you eat and drink to ensure your fetus has the best chance at a normal development before being born. It makes sense, then, that dietary choices during pregnancy can affect whether or not the child will later develop allergies.

A new study hints at this, as it studied associations between maternal diet during the last four weeks of pregnancy and allergies and eczema in offspring at the age of two years. Over 2,600 children were studied in the research.

Partial results included the maternal intakes of margarine and vegetable oils during the last four weeks of pregnancy and eczema during the first two years in the offspring.

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