The process of ageing begins even before we are born, researchers say, adding that providing mothers with antioxidants throughout pregnancy might help their offspring to age more slowly in adulthood. Researchers from University of Cambridge within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland used rats to model pregnancy and foetal development.

The offspring of mothers with lower levels of oxygen in the womb -- that, in humans, is a consequence of smoking throughout pregnancy or of pregnancy at high altitude -- aged a lot of quickly in adulthood, researchers said.

Our DNA is ‘written’ onto chromosomes, of which humans carry 23 pairs. The ends of every body are referred to as telomeres and act during a similar way to the plastic that binds the ends of shoelaces, preventing the chromosomes from fraying, they said. As we age, these telomeres become shorter and shorter, and thus their length is used as a proxy to live ageing.

For the study, researchers measured the length of telomeres in blood vessels of adult laboratory rats born from mothers who were or weren't fed antioxidants throughout traditional or sophisticated pregnancy.

The most common complication in pregnancy may be a reduction within the quantity of oxygen that the baby receives - this will result to variety of causes, as well as expectant mothers who smoke or who experience pre-eclampsia.

To simulate this complication, the researchers placed a group of pregnant laboratory rats in a space containing 7%?less oxygen than traditional. Researchers found that adult rats born from mothers who had less oxygen throughout pregnancy had shorter telomeres than rats born from uncomplicated pregnancies, and experienced problems with the inner lining of their blood vessels -- signs that they'd aged a lot of quickly and were susceptible to developing heart condition ahead of normal.