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New evidence has linked the environment in the womb with increased body weight in later life. Scientists found changes around the DNA at birth which may result from a mother's diet or exposure to pollution or stress. They then linked these changes to a higher Body Mass Index (BMI) in children aged about nine years of age. But the researchers say more work is needed to definitively prove the link between these changes and obesity. Details are published in the journal Plos One. Childhood or adult obesity has many causes, not least childhood or adult diet, but scientists have previously linked specific genes, such as the FTO gene, with increased body weight. Others have looked at not the genes, but associated molecular changes - what are called epigenetics - which can play a role in the way genes are "expressed" or encoded into the many proteins which we need to grow and function. These changes are thought to be caused in part by exposure to environmental factors such as diet, stress, smoking or hormones, particularly in the womb and during early childhood. While epigenetic changes in the womb have already been associated with later obesity, there is still little data to prove the link. Dr Caroline Relton, of Newcastle University, and colleagues took blood samples from 24 children aged 11 to 13 and identified epigenetic changes in 29 genes which could be associated with higher body mass among the children.