Abstract
AimTo examine the association between maternal nutrition and lifestyle factors and offspring adiposity, using baseline and 2-year postpartum follow-up data from a randomised control trial of low glycaemic index diet.Subject and methodsFood diaries and lifestyle questionnaires were completed during pregnancy and infant feeding and maternal lifestyle questionnaires 2 years postpartum for 281 mother and infant pairs from the ROLO study. Maternal anthropometry was measured throughout pregnancy and infant and maternal anthropometry was measured 2 years postpartum.ResultsMaternal 2 year postpartum body mass index (BMI) was positively associated with offspring BMI-for-age z-score (B = 0.105, p = 0.015). Trimester 2 saturated fat intake was positively associated with offspring subscapular:triceps skinfold ratio (B = 0.018, p = 0.001). Trimester 1 glycaemic index was also positively associated with offspring sum of subscapular and triceps skinfolds (B = 0.009, p = 0.029).ConclusionsMaternal BMI 2 years postpartum was positively associated with offspring BMI. Pregnancy saturated fat intake was positively and polyunsaturated fat negatively associated with offspring adiposity. While further research is necessary, pregnancy and the postpartum period may be early opportunities to combat childhood obesity.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10389-016-0740-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Women who returned at 2 years postpartum were aged 32.96 ± 3.92 years at delivery, 92.3 % of them were of white Irish ethnicity while 6.8 % were of white non-Irish and 0.3 % were each of Chinese, Indian and Filipino/South East Asian ethnicity
While maternal gestational weight gain was lower in the intervention group in the original ROLO study, gestational weight gain in this cohort was 13.59 ± 4.61 and did not differ significantly between the control and intervention groups (p = 0.317)
Maternal body mass index (BMI) 2 years postpartum was positively associated with offspring adiposity at 2 years of age while maternal height was negatively associated
Summary
While the importance of the in utero environment throughout the different stages of pregnancy is well established for normal foetal growth and development (Wu et al 2004), there is increasing interest in its role in foetal programming in the area of maternal overnutrition as rates of maternal overweight and obesity increase worldwide (Alexandra et al 2011; Black et al 2013; Fisher et al 2013; Lau et al 2011; Reynolds et al 2010; Rogers 2003). Foetal programming of overweight and obesity appears to occur in large for gestational weight infants as well as small for gestational weight infants resulting in a U- or J-shaped curve of higher childhood and adulthood body mass index (BMI) at both extremes of high and low birthweight (Barker 2004; Curhan et al 1996a, 1996b; Parsons et al 2001; Rogers 2003; Sayer et al 2004). Mothers from the ROLO (Randomised cOntrol trial of LOw GI diet versus no dietary intervention to prevent recurrence of foetal macrosomia) study had reduced weight gain from early pregnancy and greater reported dietary health behaviours, e.g. food label reading, at 3 months postpartum but there was no significant difference in weight or BMI between the control and intervention groups at this time-point (Horan et al 2014b)
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