Fetus may benefit from mom's exercise

NEW ORLEANS, April 17 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say exercising mothers-to-be may be helping fetal development of their baby.

Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences' Stephanie Million and Linda May along with Kathleen Gustafson of the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, used a biomagnetometer, to measure maternal and fetal magnetocardiograms as well as fetal movements.

They recorded the physiology of the developing fetus in a group of mothers involved in a moderate intensity aerobic 30-minutes-three-times-a-week exercise program and a group of mothers with no regular exercise routine.

The researchers found fetal heart rates significantly lower and the variability of heart rates during fetal breathing and non-breathing movement periods higher in the mothers who exercised. The fetal measures having to do with the nerve responsible for heart rate, peristalsis and muscle movements in the mouth also were higher during breathing movements in the fetuses of exercising mothers.

"These findings suggest a potential benefit of maternal exercise on fetal development because of the link between fetal breathing movements and the developing autonomic nervous system," May and Gustafson said in a statement.

The findings are scheduled to present their findings at the 122nd annual meeting of The American Physiological Society, part of the Experimental Biology 2009 conference, in New Orleans.