Wiley.com

Infants Born to Obese Mothers Likely to Have More Fat

Newborn babies born to mothers who were obese before getting pregnant or who gained an excessive amount of weight during pregnancy are more likely to have a high birth weight due exclusively to excess fat.

The finding, which comes from an Acta Paediatrica study, points to maternal weight as an important factor that influences a newborn’s body composition. “It might be more effective to try to reduce pre-gestational obesity than to restrict gestational weight gain, although weight loss is hard to achieve,” said first author Dr. Emma Malchau Carlsen.