Interesting new study on prenatal diet and childhood obesity

Luna C · January 2014

Just throwing it out for discussion

https://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/01/16/263110970/does-moms-pregnancy-diet-rewire-babys-brain-for-obesity?utm_content=socialflow&utm_campaign=nprfacebook&utm_source=npr&utm_medium=facebook

roundthree24 · January 2014

CharSamm said:

"They found that kids born to moms who put on too much weight — 40 pounds or more — during pregnancy had an increased risk of becoming obese even 10 years down the road"
I wonder if that's because the high fat/sugar diet continued in the home after they were born and these are the eating habits that were modelled for them.

Yeah but in the previous paragraph it says:

"To factor out the role of genes and environment, the researchers looked only at siblings, comparing how much weight a mother gained in different pregnancies and how that related to her children's weight years later."

So they controlled for the home environment by comparing siblings. Sure, I think that modeled eating habits play a big role but basically what this study suggests is that weight gain/diet during pregnancy can play a role as well.

Honestly, this doesn't surprise me. There are so many modifications that can happen during development from environmental influences. Another related topic of interest is epigenetics: it is so interesting how gene expression can be affected in utero through environmental influences such as stress, etc.

Luna C · January 2014

sarahgene61887 said:

Does this mean I should feel bad about the cinnamon buns and quart of ice cream I just bought???? This was an interesting study and I'm glad you posted it, but I think it's difficult to generalize because like CharSamm said, high fat diets may continue beyond pregnancy. I am sure there are many moms who live healthy lifestyles and eat relatively healthy but give into cravings during pregnancy. I have a hard time believing this leads to lifelong obesity in their children if they go back to all healthy foods after pregnancy. I know I normally eat a relatively low fat low sugar diet but am craving ice cream, sweets, and pasta. As long as I am eating proper meals I don't think giving into these craving a couple of times a week is going to make my baby obese during its life. That being said, if I only ate mcdonalds for 9months maybe that would be different???? Thanks for posting!

Oh, I think it's far from definitive of, well, anything.

For starters, a "high-fat" diet for a lab rat is way different from anything they would eat in the wild -- usually a lot of sugar and carbs. So who knows if it's the fat content or something else in the feed that's affecting the pups.

Second, they're assuming that the stages of development (newborn rats vs. 3rd tri fetuses) that control the same processes are affected the same way by diet. Which is a big assumption.

Third, as @CharSamm noted, it could be that moms who eat high-fat diets while pregnant are more likely to teach their kids crappy eating habits. You'd almost have to track pregnant women who have high-fat diets and then monitor them to see what their eating habits are like post-partum... because let's face it. For most of, what we're eating now is not our usual diet whether by choice or due to cravings/morning sickness/etc.

curlylocks3 · January 2014

I need to look for the link, but I know a few months ago my H read a study that said that the long-term cardiac health is better in children born to women that get 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise/day while pregnant. Its been my best motivator to be at least somewhat active when I can, although like the diet thing I am sure part of it is that women that stay active during pregnancy are more likely to model active lifestyles for their kids.

jshrop · January 2014

Yikes! My kid is SCREWED!

Luna C · January 2014

jshrop said:

Yikes! My kid is SCREWED!

For reals. My kid is going to grow up thinking root beer floats are a serving of dairy and a serving of vegetables and that exercise is picking up the remote to put on The Daily Show.

curlylocks3 · January 2014

Luna C said:

jshrop said:

Yikes! My kid is SCREWED!

For reals. My kid is going to grow up thinking root beer floats are a serving of dairy and a serving of vegetables and that exercise is picking up the remote to put on The Daily Show.

And now I want root beer.

jshrop · January 2014

curlylocks3 said:

Luna C said:

jshrop said:

Yikes! My kid is SCREWED!

For reals. My kid is going to grow up thinking root beer floats are a serving of dairy and a serving of vegetables and that exercise is picking up the remote to put on The Daily Show.

And now I want root beer.

And ice cream.

ElTrain5 · January 2014

::slides mcdonalds bag from breakfast into garbage......and mcdonalds bag from dinner....:::

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