New Theory Links Mother's Lifestyle to Childhood Obesity

Child obesity is still a growing problem, and scientists are continually looking for factors that exacerbate the issue. Now, researchers have come up with a new theory that links mothers to child obesity.

Obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. In fact, in 2012 more than one-third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.

"Childhood obesity is the major public health problem of the 21^st century and will continue to be until we fully understand why children are becoming obese," said Edward Archer, one of the researchers, in a news release. "My theory offers that understanding."

Archer conducted a meta-theoretic analysis, unifying ideas from a number of scientific fields. In other words, he synthesized evidence from fields that included pediatrics, evolutionary biology, anthropology and epidemiology.

So what does the final theory state? There are three main findings. The first is that obesity is the result of fat cells' out-competing other tissues for the energy consumed through food. The second is that a woman's physical activity and body consumption before, during and after pregnancy have evolutionary consequences since both determine the metabolism and risk of disease in her children. The third is that mothers in many subpopulations have evolved past a metabolic tipping point that makes obesity and poor physical fitness almost inevitable for her children.

"My theory says that obesity is the result of nongenetic evolutionary forces, for example social/cultural evolution, that have led to the competitive dominance of fat cells," said Archer. "Beginning in the 1960s, mothers became increasingly physically inactive, sedentary and heavier. This altered their bodies' metabolism during pregnancy. With less competition between fat and muscle cells due to inactivity, more energy was available to increase the number of fat cells in their unborn children. The result was a dramatic increase in the risk of obesity and disease in infants and children."

The findings show a new theory and possible new avenues of research. More specifically, it shows that lifestyle plays a huge role in health.

The findings are published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

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