Infants of Overweight Mothers Grow More Slowly, University of Iowa Study

8/7/2012 7:31:24 AM

Pregnant women who are overweight or obese can encounter a host of health complications. The added weight also appears to affect how their children grow and develop, at least initially. In a new study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, a team led by a University of Iowa researcher compared the weight and height of babies born to overweight and obese mothers with those born to normal-weight mothers. Contrary to expectations, babies of overweight/obese mothers gained less weight and grew less in length than babies of normal-weight women from just after birth to three months. The overweight/obese mother babies also gained less fat mass than those born to normal-weight mothers. Fat mass in infants is widely considered to be crucial to brain growth and development. (That may explain why humans have the fattest newborns of any mammal.)

Read at ScienceDaily

Read at News Release

Read Article at

Related Companies

News Categories

• ScienceDaily

• News Release

• University of Iowa

• Academic / Research - Research news

• Clinical - Research