Improving pre-pregnancy health critical to averting childhood obesity: New Study

In a new study, scientists have claimed that maintaining good health before pregnancy can avoid childhood obesity problems.

The research by University of Southampton adds to a growing body of evidence that links a child's early environment before and soon after birth to their chance of becoming obese later in life, and suggests that having a greater number of these risk factors is a strong predictor of being overweight or obese in childhood.

Scientists from the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit at the University of Southampton looked at five early life obesity risk factors: a short duration of breastfeeding (less than one month) and four maternal factors during pregnancy - obesity, excess pregnancy weight gain, smoking, and low vitamin D status.

The research analysed 991 children, and showed that at age four, children with four or five of these factors were 3.99 times more likely to be overweight or obese than children who had experienced none, and fat mass was, on average, 19% higher.

By age six, the risk increased so that these children were 4.65 times more likely to be overweight or obese and fat mass was 47% higher. Importantly, these differences were not explained by other factors, such as the children's quality of diet or physical activity levels. The data was a part of Southampton Women's Survey - one of the largest studies of mothers recruited before pregnancy, along with their infants and children.

Professor Sian Robinson, who led the study, said that early life may be a 'critical period' when appetite and regulation of energy balance are programmed, which has lifelong consequences for the risk of gaining excess weight. The findings suggested that interventions to prevent obesity need to start earlier, even before conception, and that having a healthy body weight and not smoking at this time could be key.

The study is published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.