Children of women who gain excess weight during pregnancy are more likely to become obese, according to a study reported by the Lancet weekly.
According to the authors of the study, this finding confirms that mothers should take steps to prevent obesity in their offspring before it even appears in the world.
Earlier studies have already indicated that pregnant women who are more obese give birth to heavier children who are more predisposed to obesity. However, it has never been proven that it actually has to do with how much weight a pregnant woman will gain. Rather, this relationship was explained by genetic (or other) factors common to mother and child.
To check this, scientists from the Children’s Hospital in Boston, together with colleagues from Columbia University, conducted extensive research involving over 513. women and over 1,1 million children.
On the basis of birth records in two states of Michigan and New Jersey from 1989-2003, women were selected who gave birth to two or more offspring and did not have a multiple pregnancy. All babies born prematurely – before 37 weeks gestation or late – ie after 41 weeks, as well as diabetic mothers and children who were born into extremely low or very high body weight were excluded from the analysis.
Comparing the children of the same mothers, the researchers showed that women who gained weight from 20 to 22 kg were 1,7 times more likely to give birth to children with a high body weight (i.e. 4 kg and more), compared to pregnant women who gained from 8 to 10 kg. 24 kg. And those whose body weight increased by over 2,3 kg gave birth to heavy children XNUMX times more often.
The analysis took into account genetic risk factors for obesity. Also included, among others whether mothers smoked cigarettes and gave birth by caesarean section.
According to the authors of the study, these results prove that excessive weight gain in pregnancy is an independent risk factor for giving birth to a large child.
Because a newborn’s high body weight increases the risk of future obesity and diseases such as cancer and asthma, our discovery has great public health implications, comments co-author Dr. David Ludwig. As the specialist emphasizes, a child may be born with a certain amount of adipose tissue, but if there is too much of it, it means that the fetus was developing in abnormal conditions during the most important 9 months of life.
Animal experiments show that too much maternal body weight or excessive weight gain in pregnancy negatively affect the environment in the uterus, which in turn contributes to changes in the development of the fetal brain (specifically the hypothalamus), and pancreatic islets responsible for the regulation of glucose metabolism, adipose tissue and other systems that determine the future weight of the child.
The recently updated recommendations of the US Institute of Medicine, an independent public health organization, suggest that a woman may gain weight gain between 12,5 and 18 kg if she is underweight at baseline; from 11 to 16 kg, if the weight is correct; 7 to 11 kg if overweight and 5 to 9 kg if obese. (PAP)