Thanks Leanne - I'll pass this on via Communique Jan
Jan Robinson Independent Midwife Practitioner
National Coordinator Australian Society of Independent Midwives
8 Robin Crescent South Hurstville NSW 2221 Phone/Fax: 02 9546
4350
e-mail address: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> website:
www.midwiferyeducation.com.au
On 20 Mar, 2007, at 15:36, leanne wynne wrote:
New Findings Support Fetal Overnutrition Hypothesis
Reuters Health Information 2007. © 2007 Reuters Ltd.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Feb 28 - Findings from an epidemiologic
study lend further support to the fetal overnutrition hypothesis:
subjects overexposed to glucose, free fatty acids, and amino acids in
utero are at increased risk for obesity later in life.
According to this hypothesis, it is the mother's weight status that
determines the degree of fetal overnutrition. Thus, the hypothesis
helps explain why obesity is often passed from parent to offspring.
In the present study, reported in the February 15th issue of the
American Journal of Epidemiology, Dr. Debbie A. Lawlor and colleagues
correlated the maternal body mass index (BMI) with offspring BMI in
3340 parent-offspring trios drawn from an Australian birth cohort.
Maternal BMI was assessed at the first antenatal clinic visit and
offspring BMI was determined at age 14. In addition, paternal BMI was
calculated from the mother's report of the father's height and weight.
The offspring's BMI was more closely linked to the mother's BMI than
the father's, Dr. Lawlor, from the University of Bristol in the UK,
and colleagues note. For a one-standard-deviation increase in maternal
and paternal BMI, offspring BMI increased by 0.362 and 0.239 standard
deviations.
"There is currently an epidemic of obesity in Western societies," the
authors conclude. "The potential importance of the suggestion, from
our study, that greater maternal size during pregnancy, either through
programming of neuroendocrine pathways or through epigenetic or other
mechanisms, results in greater offspring BMI in later life means that
this issue warrants further investigation."
Am J Epidemiol 2007;165:418-424.
Leanne Wynne
Midwife in charge of "Women's Business"
Mildura Aboriginal Health Service Mob 0418 371862
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