Health: Poor diets during pregnancy can cause children to gain weight and obesity

One study has warned that mothers who eat an unhealthy diet during pregnancy may set their children toward weight gain and obesity.

U.S. researchers investigated the links between a pregnant mother’s diet and her children’s growth rates between birth and adolescence.

The team found that a pregnancy diet rich in inflammatory foods, including sugars, artificial trans fats, and processed meats, was associated with increased weight gain in children between the ages of three and ten.

Previous studies have shown that weight gain in early childhood is associated with an increased risk of obesity later in childhood, as well as in adolescence and adulthood.

Weight problems can begin during pregnancy, according to the team, as the pathways that program metabolism, growth, and eating behaviors are sensitive to in utero influences.

The team recommends that pregnant women consider a Mediterranean diet, rich in plant foods, fish and unsaturated fats, with low inflammatory potential and that can benefit the health of both mother and child.

However, the researchers warned that individual nutritional needs may vary and women should consult their doctor to choose the most appropriate diet.

“To date, studies linking maternal nutrition during pregnancy with the growth of offspring have focused on the newborn and early childhood period, with limited data extending later into childhood,” said the author of the document, Carmen Monthé-Drèze.

“We wanted to better understand the dynamic growth changes that occur from childhood to adolescence as a result of maternal nutrition during pregnancy,” added the neonatologist at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

“We wanted to specifically assess whether there are different periods between birth and adolescence when weight gain rates are more susceptible to the effects of nutrition during pregnancy.”

In their study, Dr. Monthé-Drèze and colleagues analyzed data on 1,459 mother-child couples collected by the Viva Project, an ongoing study of maternal and child health conducted at the Harvard Pilgrim Massachusetts Health Care Institute.

During the respective pregnancies, each mother was asked to complete questionnaires about her dietary intake, which the researchers interpreted through the lens of three different dietary indices.

These included the inflammatory index of the diet, the score of the Mediterranean diet, and the index of alternative healthy eating for pregnancy.

After delivery, each child was weighed and measured several times between birth and adolescence, from which body mass index (BMI) values ​​were calculated.

Finally, the researchers analyzed how each mother’s dietary index scores were associated with the growth trajectory of her offspring.

“Maternal nutrition during pregnancy can have a long-term impact on children’s weight trajectories,” Dr. Monthé-Drèze said.

In addition, he added, the results suggest that “there are specific developmental periods in which nutrition during pregnancy can influence the growth of offspring.”

“We found that a pregnancy diet with higher inflammatory potential was associated with faster BMI growth rates in children aged three to ten years.”

We also found that lower adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet during pregnancy was associated with higher BMI trajectories through adolescence.

According to the team, the mothers ’score on the alternative healthy eating index did not appear to predict their child’s growth trajectory.

“It is important to advise women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant about the importance of a healthy diet during pregnancy,” Dr. Monthé-Drèze said.

“In particular, women who are pregnant or may become pregnant should consider a Mediterranean diet, which not only benefits their own health, but can also help their child maintain a healthy weight.”

A Mediterranean-style diet, the team explained, has low inflammatory potential and is rich in vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, low-mercury fish and good quality oils such as extra virgin olive oil.

It provides an important source of vitamin D, omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and other nutrients that have been shown to be beneficial to the health of the offspring.

“Research has shown that the foods we eat during pregnancy can influence the metabolism of the growing child, as well as their eating behaviors and eating preferences,” Dr. Monthé-Drèze explained.

“In addition, the dietary choices women make during pregnancy are likely to be similar to the dietary options they offer their children,” she added.

“Therefore, it is conceivable that maternal nutrition during pregnancy may be related to long-term weight problems in offspring.”

“Therefore, further research is needed to better understand the relationship between maternal diet during pregnancy and infant BMI and weight gain patterns.”

The team also suggested that doctors should assess mothers ’dietary habits during pregnancy to identify children who may be at high risk for weight gain.

In addition, they should encourage nutritious food options to maintain a healthy weight during childhood, infancy and adolescence, they added.

“As scientists and as a society at large, we have failed to curb the growth of childhood obesity,” Dr. Monthé-Drèze said.

This failure, he added, “costs mothers and children a lot.”

“There are reasons to be optimistic about the future, but we need to conceptualize the problem differently to solve it.”

The full findings of the study were published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.