Your placenta got chucked away when you were born (unless your parents ate it) yet we are now discovering that this temporary organ has a lifelong impact on your health – from heart disease to obesity and cancer risk.
AS WE emerged into the world as newborns, each of us lost something important: a body part that had provided us with oxygen and nutrients, removed waste products and kept pathogens at bay. What became of this crucial organ? It was probably thrown in the bin – assuming it wasn’t served up to your parent in the belief thatNever mind, you might say. After all, the body part in question – the placenta – is supposed to be a temporary organ.
. Heart disease, obesity, asthma, several forms of cancer – your long-term risk of all of these conditions might be influenced by the way your placenta grew. This news comes too late to help anyone already born. But future generations could benefit if we can develop tools to spot unhealthy placentas during pregnancy and new therapies to treat any problems. Motivated by the potential of such tools to improve human health, researchers are now racing to develop them – and in the past 12 months, their efforts have begun to bear fruit.
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