Weight Gain in Pregnancy May Be Linked to Later Growth Patterns in Daughters
Rapid weight gain in the first and final months of a pregnancy may play a key role in the development of excess fat tissue in children and adolescents – at least if those children are girls, according to a new study from researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.
In the study, published today in the journal Obesity, nutritional sciences researchers looked at more than 300 pregnant women and followed their children from 5 to 14 years old. The researchers connected patterns of weight change in pregnancy to patterns of their children's body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and body fat percentage changes during childhood and early adolescence.
