Does an obese pregnancy lead to an obese child?
Categories: Newborns, Pregnancy & birth, Eating & nutrition, In the news, Mealtime
Several studies in a recent New York Times article entitled "Honey, I Plumped the Kids" seem to be pointing in that direction. As we all know by now, human beings are getting bigger--and by bigger, I really mean fatter. In 2005 it was estimated there were 400 million obese people on the planet. Yes, 400 MILLION. And, in what is a recent phenomenon, some of those obese people happened to be women who then became pregnant and gave birth. The result? Well, if the studies are to be believed, a pregnancy for an obese woman can lead to her children being obese as well.
Similar news to this has been circulating for some time now. It's also no news that being obese, whether or not you're pregnant, can have dramatically harmful results. Cancer, diabetes and heart disease are just a few of the pleasantries headed your way if you happen to be obese. But, what does being obese mean for your unborn child? In one of the studies cited in the Times article, women who gave birth to children before they had surgery to correct their obesity were more likely have an obese child; once the women had the surgery, the children they later bore tended to not be obese. Hence, the obesity doesn't on the surface seem to be due to genetic predisposition, but rather to the mother being , well, fat.
One theory as to why this is concerns the fact that people have access to an overabundance of sugar and fat. As a direct result, so do their fetuses. In another study pregnant female rats were allowed to have as much as they wanted of either human junk food or regular old rat food. Those who had access to the junk food ate 40% more food than their rat-chow eating buddies. The baby rats born to the junk food rats were more inclined to eat such food and were more likely to be overweight as a result of consuming too many calories.
So what does this mean for all us preggies out there? Perhaps that we should listen to our doctors and cut back on the sugar and fats. Pregnancy cravings aside, the article and the studies make a good case for being even more healthy when you're pregnant--for you and your baby.
Pic by armchairgeek.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
CLM 8-14-2008 @ 12:10PM
One thing that none of these studies seems to address is the fact that part of the reason obese parents end up with obese children is because they are passing on their own eating habits to their offspring. It doesn't need to be genetic predisposition or an in utero issue. A lifetime of horrible eating habits will do the job all on its own.
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Diane 8-14-2008 @ 1:32PM
I was obese during both of my pregnancies. I managed to loose some weight before my second pregnancy, but was still, technically, obese. Children learn from watching the world around them, and most importantly, from watching their parents. I was an overweight child and have battle my weight my entire life. No one else in my family had a weight problem, but because they were "naturally skinny" they could eat whatever they wanted, and did so. Those were my role models for eating. After my children were born, I decided that I didn't want them to have that same problem. I decided that if I didn't get my eating and exercise habits "into shape" they could very well end up like me. If I can model heathly eating and exercise habits, I feel it will give them a better chance at being heathly and active people. I managed to lose 80 lbs. and started exercising on a regular basis. My kids see the effort that I have put into controlling what I eat and making sure I fit my exercise into my routine. This all comes with a flip side, however. I also try to be very concious of what I tell my children about eating healthy and exercising. I don't like to talk about "losing weight" or being "fat" or "skinny." I try to put things in terms of being "healthy" versus being "unhealthy", but I know I don't always succeed. I'm afraid of putting too much emphasis how people look, therefore creating body image issues and eating disorders. I will continue to walk this tightrope and do my best to make the correct decisions and take the correct actions to give my children their best chance at being healthy and having a healthy body image. Wish me luck!
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CLM 8-14-2008 @ 4:06PM
What you are doing is fantastic - congratulations and best of luck!
adopt 8-14-2008 @ 1:47PM
I am a firm believer that a LOT of a child's tendency to be heavy or slim relates to whether her biological mother was. Whether that is because of genes or pregnancy diet or both, I'm not sure. My guess is genes. Of course I've read this and many alternative arguments, but here's what I'm seeing with my own eyes. I adopted two daughters, one who has a very slim birth mom and one whose birth mom is heavy. Both girls were relinquished for adoption very shortly after birth and raised in foster care until their adoption was completed. I've been the one feeding them since shortly after they took their first taste of solid food.
Each of my daughters is clearly taking after her biological mother's body type. There is not much I can do about it.
I feed both of my daughters about the same way; I actually offer more food to the slimmer one, but she prefers to eat less. Both have the same schedule and participate in the same activities. Being a health food nut and nutrition freak, and being pretty healthy myself, I know that the diet I choose for my girls is healthy and I couldn't really cut anything "fattening" without compromising my daughter's development. Despite all this, one of my daughters is about 25% heavier than the other, adjusting for height and age. One daughter is at the extreme low end of the %iles for weight, while the other was pushing the 95%ile for BMI until I put her on a fairly heavy exercise regimen.
For the past couple of months, I've had my daughters walk with me for about an hour after dinner every day (up & down hills), and this has helped a lot, but wee one is still heavy for her height and age. I'm completely convined that some folks are just born to have a bigger struggle with weight. That doesn't mean they or their parents have no responsibility; I'm just saying it's not all about what and how much they eat.
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Kris 8-14-2008 @ 6:01PM
There is a new Canadian study out there that is showing that being heavy/obese does not necessarily mean you are unhealthy. I am slightly over what would be considered "normal" for my height and have had FOUR babies. None of my children are in an way overweight. I think the logic in this thinking is ridiculous. The whole BMI craze is such BS. Kudos to the commenters that point out that becoming overweight is more about your eating habits and those learned eating habits that perhaps genetically predisposed.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080812/overwight_healthy_080812/20080812?hub=Health
K.
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