Gestational Diabetes Increases Risk Of Obesity In Future Children

Recent findings published in the journal Diabetes Care reveal that daughters of women with mother's who've dealt with gestational diabetes during pregnancy are more likely to be obese later in childhood.

Lead study author Ai Kubo, an epidemiologist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., examined data on 421 girls and their mothers from 2005 to 2011. The data included annual data of each participant's body fat, risk of abdominal obesity, height, weight and other issues. The mothers of the girls were also required to undergo a glucose tolerance test during their 24 to 28 weeks of pregnancy.

As gestational diabetes is a health issue that often strikes mothers-to-be during the 24th and 28th weeks of pregnancy, the condition has also been linked to an increased risk of obesity in the children as well.

Study findings showed that 27 mothers participating in the study developed gestational diabetes. This was calculated for daughters having a body mass index (BMI) higher than 3.5 times the normal rate.

"Glucose levels during pregnancy, particularly gestational diabetes, were associated with the girls being overweight, and this association was much stronger if the mother was also overweight before pregnancy," added Kubo, in a news release.

For the future, researchers recommend that women plan to improve their lifestyles and health before pregnancy is they are already overweight or obese.

"Once obesity happens, it's really hard and expensive to reverse," Kubo concluded. "Working with mothers during and before pregnancy to make lifestyle improvements could have long-term benefits for their children as well."