A connection has been found between human facial features and maternal nutrition during pregnancy

Squirrels make your appearance rougher

Often people don’t like something about their appearance: a big nose, a too square face, and so on. Scientists have long wondered what might influence each person’s unique characteristics. Now they have come to the conclusion that women’s nutrition during pregnancy plays an important role here.

The study found that each person’s unique facial features may have been influenced by what their mother ate during pregnancy. For example, a protein-rich diet resulted in wider noses and jaws.

Subtle differences in people’s appearance, from the shape of the skull to the amount of cartilage in the nose, are created in the womb by genes activated by nutrition. The more protein you eat during pregnancy, the more active these genes become.

Researchers say it can “fine-tune” a child’s appearance by adjusting the length of the nose and the width of the nostrils, the shape of the cheeks and the protrusion of the jaw.

Although the appearance of a person’s face is determined by the parents’ genes, siblings often look completely different, and even “identical” twins are never exactly alike.

In a study published in the journal Nature Communications, the international researchers said: “We found that modulation of protein levels in the maternal diet regulates mTORC1 activity, leading to subtle but distinct changes in the craniofacial shape of embryos.”

They added that this results in a “spectrum” of different facial features. Pregnant mice and fish were fed differently, and the researchers found that this altered mTORC1 signaling in their womb, giving their offspring special facial features.

A high protein diet has been shown to lead to enlarged facial features, more pronounced jaws, and thicker nasal cartilage. However, feeding mothers low-protein foods resulted in slimmer and sharper facial features.

The researchers said this phenomenon may give some animals an advantage depending on the environment in which they were born. In some fish species, babies are more likely to have longer, thinner noses if their mothers eat a low-nutrient diet. This gives the young an advantage when searching for food in areas with low food availability.