Mother's stress leads to obesity in children

Maternal stress as a cause of overweight of children

In Germany more and more obese people live. Many children are too fat. Researchers have now identified a new risk factor for overweight development in infancy: the mother's stress.

More and more children are too fat

Health experts repeatedly warn against underestimating the risks of being overweight. Obesity in childhood and adolescence can have dangerous health consequences, including increasing the risk of high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes later in life. Nevertheless, the number of obese children has risen sharply worldwide in recent years. Also in this country, many children are far too fat. German researchers could now identify the perceived stress of the mother in the first year of life of the child as a risk factor for overweight development in infancy.

When mothers are stressed, the risk of their child becoming overweight increases. (Image: pathdoc - fotolia)

Risk factors for obesity

In Germany, almost ten percent of children between the ages of two and six are overweight, of which around three percent are even obese.

High calorie diet and physical inactivity are known risk factors for being overweight.

"Maternal stress is also suspected to contribute to the development of obesity in children," explains nutritionist Dr. med. Kristin Junge from the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig in a statement.

"Especially the time window during pregnancy and in the first years of life is very sensitive to external influences in the development of children, which can lead to diseases or obesity," says the expert.

And it can also include psychological influences, such as maternal stress.

Impact mainly on the weight development of girls

Together with scientists from the Berlin Institute for Health Research / Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) and colleagues from the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, UFZ researchers have found out that the perceived stress of the mother in the first year of her life promotes overweight in infancy.

As the researchers write in the journal "BMC Public Health", maternal stress mainly affects the weight development of girls and leads to a long-term impact.

To arrive at their findings, the research team evaluated data from 498 mother-child couples from the mother-child study LiNA.

From the information on size and weight, the scientists determined the body mass index (BMI) of the children and normalized it to age and gender.

They assessed the perceived distress of mothers during pregnancy and their first two years of life with validated questionnaires that included issues of worry and anxiety, tension, overall satisfaction and dealing with daily needs.

Then they correlated both sets of data.

Stressed mothers are more likely to have obese children than relaxed mothers

"We compared the data on the perceived stress of mothers during pregnancy and the first two years of life of the child with the development of the BMI of children up to the age of five and examined whether there is a relationship," said biochemist Dr. med. Beate Leppert, first author of the study, who now works at the University of Bristol.

"We have seen clearly that the perceived stress of the mother during the first year of life of the child with the weight of the child in the first five years of life," explains Irina Lehmann in a statement of the Berlin Institute of Health.

"Stressed mothers are more likely to have overweight children than relaxed mothers," says the researcher.

"Particularly striking is the influence of maternal stress on girls," adds Saskia Trump.

Studies have shown that boys may better compensate for mothers' stress. There was no effect on maternal weight during pregnancy or during the second year of life of the children.

"The first year of life seems to be a sensitive phase and a tendency to overweight," says Kristin Junge from the UFZ, one of the first authors of the study.

"During this time, special attention should be given to the well-being of the mother," she adds.

Causes of maternal stress

"In order to find out why the mothers were stressed during pregnancy and during the first two years of their lives, we took a closer look at the data," reports Beate Leppert.

"In particular, we have examined the living conditions of the mothers."

They discovered that stressed mothers more often lived as undressed mothers in a simple living environment, were more exposed to noise and road traffic, and on average had lower household incomes.

Do not leave stressed mothers alone

"We want to draw attention to the problem of stressed mothers with our study," says Irina Lehmann. "By no means should you leave them alone with their problem."

"Midwives, gynecologists, pediatricians and GPs should be particularly alert for signs of stress in the first year after the baby is born," said Junge.

"There are already many good offers of help for young mothers, but many do not know about it. If you start here, you could help the mothers and thus possibly spare their children later overweight, "explains Saskia Trump.

In future research work, the team wants to investigate which other risk factors can influence the child's weight development and which mechanisms are involved in the long-lasting misdirection of the metabolism. (Ad)