Women who improve their health before becoming pregnant could also contribute to preventing their children becoming obese, it is revealed today.
A new study from the University of Southampton, England, adds to a growing body of evidence, suggesting a child’s environment before and soon after birth can dictate their chances of becoming obese later in life.
Although previous studies have identified a number of individual early life risk factors, only a few that have looked at the combined effects.
Now, the study led by Professor Sian Robinson, of the university’s Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, suggests that being exposed to a higher number of these risk factors – being breastfed for less than 1 month and obesity, excess pregnancy weight gain, smoking, and low vitamin D status in pregnancy – could influence a child’s chances of being overweight or obese.
“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,” she explains.
“Although the importance of early prevention is recognised, much of the focus is on school-aged children. Our findings suggest 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, published today in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, analysed data from 991 children who took part in the Southampton Women’s Survey.
It reveals that children who were exposed to 4 or 5 of those risk factors were, by the age of 4, 3.99 times more likely to be overweight or obese than children who had experienced none. Fat mass was, on average, 19% higher.
By 6 years of age, the risk increased to 4.65 times more likely to be overweight or obese, while fat mass was 47% higher.
Prof Robinson said it was important to note that these differences were not explained by other factors, such as the children’s quality of diet or physical activity levels.
Professor Cyrus Cooper, director of the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit adds: “The large differences in the risk of being overweight in childhood that were shown in this study highlight the importance of early life risk factors.
“These findings could have important implications for obesity prevention policy and will help us to design future interventions aimed at optimising body composition, with benefits for lifelong health.”
Robinson S et al. Modifiable early life risk factors for childhood adiposity and overweight: an analysis of their combined impact and potential for prevention. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2 February 2015.
Leave a Reply