How Women Keep a Healthy Weight May Impact Their Children

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How Women Keep a Healthy Weight May Impact Their Children

– Reported, August 27 2013

 

(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Weight loss surgery by women before giving birth may have a negative impact on the long-term health of their children, according to new research.

Researchers studied the effect of vertical sleeve gastrectomy weight loss surgery on female rats before becoming pregnant. The rats became obese. Then, they had the surgery before giving birth. Although the female rats showed improved glucose levels and better reproductive health compared to the obese rats that did not undergo the surgery, their offspring had lower birth weights and poorer metabolic health.

“It may not be sufficient enough just to get mom healthier before she conceives; how she gets healthier seems to matter,” Randy Seeley, Ph. D., and coauthor of the study, was quoted as saying. “The interaction between diet and the maternal environments—the uterus and placenta, for example—may impact susceptibility to metabolic disease in offspring.”

SOURCE: Science Translational Medicine, August 2013