Obesity starts in the womb

The lifestyle of the mother shapes the baby in the womb

10/01/2013

The mother's lifestyle already affects the unborn child in the mother's stomach. Accordingly, the predisposition to obesity is already shaped in the womb before the birth of the child. This is the result of a study by the researchers at the University Hospital Charité in Berlin. The study results were published in the international science magazine "Plos One".

Birth weight increases overweight risk
As a result, babies with a birth weight of more than 4,000 grams were more likely to be overweight later in life than children born with a lower weight. „The risk is about twice as high“, the researchers write in their report. If newborns weighed less than 2500 grams, a greatly reduced risk of later obesity was also found. As a reference category, the normal weights were between 2500 and 4000 grams.

According to the study director Prof. Andreas Plagemann of the Clinic for Obstetrics at the Charité, the results show that the „life-long risk of being overweight is essentially influenced by the lifestyle of the expectant mother“. Thus, the course of a pregnancy is a „decisive switchman for the health of the child throughout his life“.

Overeating socio-political and health economic significant
Obesity and obesity are among the biggest health-related problems on earth. Particularly affected are industrialized countries such as Germany. Obesity affects all segments of the population and income. In this country about half of all adults are overweight. About 15 to 20 percent of children and adolescents are also affected. Many problems of a medical, socio-political and health economic nature follow from this problem. Serious illnesses like heart attack, cancer, stroke, diabetes and complaints like back pain as well as psychological problems are consequences of the overweight. „The new findings show that preventing overweight for the entire later life is possible even before birth“, said Professor Plagemann.

Metastudy from 66 studies
Excessive intake of unhealthy foods, consequent over-consumption, physical inactivity, and metabolic diseases such as diabetes during pregnancy lead to increased birth weight in many cases. In order to derive a context between the weight of the child and the subsequent risk of overweight, the team around Prof. Plagemann evaluated and analyzed 66 research papers that were carried out worldwide on this topic. The data of more than 640,000 female and male subjects in all age groups up to 75 years from 26 countries and five continents could be evaluated in the metastudy. The mothers can minimize the risk if they avoid overeating. "Preventing over-nutrition and gestational diabetes would be a promising strategy for global preventive action, researchers said. (Sb)

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Image: Dieter Schütz