A disturbing new advertising campaign warns expectant mothers about the effects their food and drink intake can have on their unborn children - by showing young babies suckling on breasts that have been painted to look like a variety of unhealthy treats.

The alarming ads, created for Brazil's Pediatric Society of Rio Grande (SPRS), also feature the ominous tagline: 'Your child is what you eat,' which could also be translated as: 'Your child eats what you eat.' 

Designed by Brazilian-based agency Paim, the ads are a startling reminder that mothers can potentially harm their young babies with their poor diets.

Beneath the tagline, the ads warn: 'Your habits in the first thousand days of [your child's life] can prevent your child from developing serious diseases.'

One image shows a baby nursing on a breast with a massive cheeseburger painted on it, while other ads in the awareness campaign see infants suckling on breasts illustrated with fountain soda and doughnuts.

A recent study by Robert Waterland, an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, found that healthy diets of pregnant mothers can result in babies developing a gene variant that suppresses tumors.

However, if a pregnant mother does not have good nutrition, her baby's immune system is less likely to activate the cancer-fighting gene variant.

The ads, while certainly unsettling, deliver this point rather effectively. 

The images also show that a woman's diet while breastfeeding can have consequences for her child.