Childhood overweight: a smoking mother or obese before pregnancy increases the risk

Maternal overweight before pregnancy would be the highest risk factor for overweight in children 2 to 8 years, suggests a study published in "Pediatrics" magazine.

Pamela Salsberry and Patricia Reagan University of the State of Ohio (USA) conducted a survey of more than 3,000 children whose height and weight were measured at the age of 3, 5 and 7 years to determine whether prenatal characteristics and feeding newborn influence the early development of overweight.

Their results indicate that the early development of a child being overweight is associated with several factors: ethnicity (Hispanic and African-American), obesity or overweight of the mother before pregnancy and smoking during pregnancy.

A child of a overweight woman in the months before her pregnancy poses a risk of being overweight at age 7 three times higher than a child whose mother was not overweight or obese during his pregnancy.

The authors also found that overweight child at a young age, 2 years, for example, presents a high risk to maintain overweight in the following years.

However, the overall percentage of overweight children decreases with age. "Some children lose weight and amaigrissent growing," said Pamela Salsberry in a statement of the university.

According to this study, breastfeeding is only a small protective factor of overweight children compared to formula feeding.

"These results are interesting because they provide clues to understanding the genesis of overweight in children and suggest that prevention of weight problems in children should begin before pregnancy and in early childhood," the authors conclude .