Bad Health in Mom May Mean Bad Health in Baby for Years
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Jupiterimages/Creatas/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — The health of mom may linger in children for years, according to a recent study.
The study, which appeared in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, was done by researchers in the United Kingdom who examined five obesity risk factors in moms to see what effect they might have on children.
Researchers analyzed data from about 1,000 children, and looked for five maternal risk factors such as shortened breastfeeding, maternal obesity, excess pregnancy weight, maternal smoking and low vitamin D levels during pregnancy.
By age four, children whose moms showed more of these risk factors were four times more likely to be overweight or obese.
Researchers also found that by age six, the children in the research group had a fat mass that was 47 percent higher than kids whose mothers did not have these risk factors.
The study’s authors recommend mothers should work to eliminate those five risk factors, even before conception, to help cut obesity in children.
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