Health & Medicine
Obesity: Children Of Obese Moms More Prone To Being Overweight, But Why?
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Jun 11, 2015 04:48 PM EDT
It's no surprise that obese mothers are generally more likely to have obese children, potentially linking a genetic component to an increased risk of weight issues. Yet researchers at Colorado's School of Medicine have now linked a potential reason for exactly why this happens.
Lead study author Kristen Boyle, an assistant professor at the school, and colleagues, collected stem cells from the umbilical cords of babies of normal-weight and obese mothers that were donated for research, in which they grew the cell samples into muscles and fat cells in a laboratory.
"One of the questions that needs to be explored is how children of obese mothers may be at risk for becoming obese as a result of factors that occur even before they are born," said Kristen E. Boyle, PhD, Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, in a news release. "Our study looked at the mechanism by which children may be preprogrammed for increased obesity risk, because of changes occurring in utero."
Researchers discovered that the cells grown in the lab from obese mothers showed 30 percent more fat when compared to those extracted from normal-weight mothers, suggesting that cells of children of obese mothers may have actually been programmed to accumulate excess fat while they were still inside the womb of their parents.
Researchers are currently continuing to evaluate data to determine just how the cells likewise show evidence of altered metabolism.
"At this point, because this is fairly preliminary, we don't know how these differences in cells grown in the lab correspond to the physiology of these children after birth," Boyle concluded. "But it's clear that there is an inherent propensity toward more fat content in the cells from offspring of obese moms, in culture. We also know that the fat accumulation in these cells corresponded to the baby's fat mass at birth. The next step is to follow these offspring to see if there is a lasting change into adulthood."
The study findings will be presented at the American Diabetes Association's 75th Scientific Sessions.
Related Articles
Mom's Obesity May Hurt Her Unborn Baby's Immune System|
Mother's Poor Diet Linked to Stunted Children: The Role of Obesity in Malnutrition
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now:
NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone
©2024 ScienceWorldReport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The window to the world of science news.
More on SCIENCEwr
First Posted: Jun 11, 2015 04:48 PM EDT
It's no surprise that obese mothers are generally more likely to have obese children, potentially linking a genetic component to an increased risk of weight issues. Yet researchers at Colorado's School of Medicine have now linked a potential reason for exactly why this happens.
Lead study author Kristen Boyle, an assistant professor at the school, and colleagues, collected stem cells from the umbilical cords of babies of normal-weight and obese mothers that were donated for research, in which they grew the cell samples into muscles and fat cells in a laboratory.
"One of the questions that needs to be explored is how children of obese mothers may be at risk for becoming obese as a result of factors that occur even before they are born," said Kristen E. Boyle, PhD, Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, in a news release. "Our study looked at the mechanism by which children may be preprogrammed for increased obesity risk, because of changes occurring in utero."
Researchers discovered that the cells grown in the lab from obese mothers showed 30 percent more fat when compared to those extracted from normal-weight mothers, suggesting that cells of children of obese mothers may have actually been programmed to accumulate excess fat while they were still inside the womb of their parents.
Researchers are currently continuing to evaluate data to determine just how the cells likewise show evidence of altered metabolism.
"At this point, because this is fairly preliminary, we don't know how these differences in cells grown in the lab correspond to the physiology of these children after birth," Boyle concluded. "But it's clear that there is an inherent propensity toward more fat content in the cells from offspring of obese moms, in culture. We also know that the fat accumulation in these cells corresponded to the baby's fat mass at birth. The next step is to follow these offspring to see if there is a lasting change into adulthood."
The study findings will be presented at the American Diabetes Association's 75th Scientific Sessions.
Related Articles
Mom's Obesity May Hurt Her Unborn Baby's Immune System|
Mother's Poor Diet Linked to Stunted Children: The Role of Obesity in Malnutrition
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone