Weight gain in pregnancy may be linked to later growth patterns in
daughters

Date:
February 9, 2022
Source:
University of Texas at Austin
Summary:
Rapid weight gain in the first and final months of a pregnancy
may play a key role in the development of excess fat tissue in
children and adolescents -- at least if those children are girls,
according to a new study.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Rapid weight gain in the first and final months of a pregnancy may
play a key role in the development of excess fat tissue in children and adolescents -- at least if those children are girls, according to a new
study from researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.


==========================================================================
In the study, published today in the journal Obesity, nutritional sciences researchers looked at more than 300 pregnant women and followed their
children from 5 to 14 years old. The researchers connected patterns of
weight change in pregnancy to patterns of their children's body mass
index (BMI), waist circumference and body fat percentage changes during childhood and early adolescence.

"We wanted to understand whether different weight change patterns during pregnancy impacted the child's growth over time or the child's potential
to develop excess fat tissue," said Beth Widen, assistant professor of nutritional sciences at UT Austin. "For boys, we didn't really see that
much of a difference in their patterns of weight and body size over
time. But for girls, we saw some striking differences. This tells us
there are differences between the sexes in this area of child growth."
Weight change in pregnancy generally followed four distinct patterns
in this study. One group of pregnant participants in the study lost
weight during the first trimester, gained moderately during the second
and gained rapidly during the third. A second group experienced slow
weight gain across all three trimesters. A third group saw slow weight
gain during the first trimester and moderate weight gain through the
end of pregnancy. The last group experienced rapid weight gain during
the first trimester, followed by slow weight gain during the second and moderate weight gain during the third.

The researchers found that girls born to the fourth group in this study
- - individuals who gained weight more quickly at the start and end of pregnancy -- had the highest body mass index measurements, the largest
waist circumferences and the highest body fat percentages from ages 5
to 14.

Conversely, girls born to study participants from the first group - - individuals who lost weight in the first trimester, and gained moderately
in the second trimester and rapidly in the third -- had the lowest BMI,
waist circumference and body fat percentages in the study.

No clear-cut pregnancy weight and childhood body composition patterns
emerged with boys in the study. Widen speculates this may be due to
differences between the sexes in growth and development in addition to differences in how boys and girls respond to prenatal exposures.

Researchers emphasize that finding a pattern in children's body
composition from pregnancy and across childhood is not the same as
detecting causation, so further research is needed. Weight changes over
the course of pregnancies and the relationship to those weight changes
in babies and children is an area ripe for more research, Widen believes.

"This study shows us that there may be sex differences in child body composition based on what they are exposed to in utero," Widen said. "But, really, we believe there is only a small portion of pregnancy weight
gain that can be consciously changed -- specifically among fat tissue --
since much of the weight change is necessary to support the pregnancy. It
is possible that these findings are just the start of research that can
help us further understand risk factors for childhood obesity and may
help us develop more individualized weight gain guidelines that support pregnant people." Natalie Burns, Michael Daniels and Grant Backlund
of the University of Florida; Rachel Rickman, Saralyn F. Foster, Amy
R. Nichols and Radek Bukowski of UT Austin; Lori A. Hoepner, Eliza
W. Kinsey, Judyth Ramirez-Carvey, Abeer Hassoun, Frederica P. Perera
and Andrew G. Rundle of Columbia University also contributed to this
study. This research was funded by grants from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers, Irving General Clinical Research
Center, Educational Foundation of America, John and Wendy Neu Family Foundation, New York Community Trust, the Trustees of the Blanchette
Hooker Rockefeller Fund and the National Institutes of Health.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Texas_at_Austin. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Elizabeth M. Widen, Natalie Burns, Michael Daniels, Grant Backlund,
Rachel Rickman, Saralyn Foster, Amy R. Nichols, Lori A. Hoepner,
Eliza W.

Kinsey, Judyth Ramirez‐Carvey, Abeer Hassoun, Frederica
P. Perera, Radek Bukowski, Andrew G. Rundle. Gestational weight
change and childhood body composition trajectories from pregnancy
to early adolescence.

Obesity, 2022; DOI: 10.1002/oby.23367 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220209093420.htm

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