Maternal but not paternal fat mass is positively associated with infant fat mass at age 2 weeks

Abstract

Maternal programming of fetal metabolism has been demonstrated in animal studies, while clinical studies have shown an association between pre‐pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and anthropometric measures in infants. Here we report on the association between infant body composition at age 2 weeks and parental total body fat mass (FM) measured during the first trimester of pregnancy. Body composition was assessed using air displacement plethysmography technology (PeaPod® and BodPod®). Gestational weight gain was assessed throughout pregnancy and categorized according to the 2009 Institute of Medicine recommendations as adequate or excessive. After controlling for excessive gestational weight gain, maternal FM (%) in 40 infant/mother pairs was significantly associated with infant FM (r=0.343, p=0.03), whereas maternal BMI was not associated with infant FM (r=0.307, p=0.06). Among the 29 fathers who agreed to be part of the study, neither paternal FM (%) nor paternal BMI was associated with infant FM at age 2 weeks (r=0.105, p=0.6 and r=0.099, p=0.6, respectively). These data suggest that higher maternal fat mass pre‐pregnancy can affect adipose deposition in utero, whereas paternal FM does not seem to play a role in programming of fetal adipose deposition. Funded by USDA‐ARS CRIS # 6251–51000‐005–03S.