Conception of pregnant women 'eat' children will harm the fetus

A new study finds that women who eat for two people (who eat children) during pregnancy can push their unborn child to lifelong obesity in the future.

Researchers from Children's Hospital Boston (USA) conducted a comparison of the weight of more than 90,000 12-year-old children with information about their mother's pregnancy time. On average, these mothers increased by 13.6kg during pregnancy, but some people increased to nearly 25kg.

The analysis showed that children increased by more than 13.6 kg by pregnant mothers, facing the risk of obesity 8% higher than their peers who were born by mothers who only increased 6 - 12kg.

Health authorities in England recommend that pregnant women do not need to increase calorie intake until the last 3 months of pregnancy, when they only need to increase by 200 calories / day, equivalent to a small sandwich.(Artwork: Alamy)

The team wrote in PLoS Medicine: "The risk of obesity is higher than 8%, meaning hundreds of thousands of cases of children who are overweight or obese worldwide every year. Children help predict the weight of subjects at adulthood so our research shows that over-intake of nutrients during pregnancy can push the fetus to an increased risk of lifelong obesity, despite the risk. this may be small ".

The study authors emphasize that their findings cannot explain simply that the mother elected to gain weight because the child will be older when the baby is born, or that the mother and child have the same genes or eating habits and exercise. . They concluded that intrauterine conditions, which were influenced by the mother's diet, could have long-term effects on controlling appetite or the accumulation of fat of an unborn child.

Meanwhile, obesity can rob a person of up to 9 years of life and increase their risk of health problems, including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, infertility, depression. colds and some forms of cancer. In addition, obesity may also pose a serious threat to pregnant pregnancy.

Concerned about the phenomenon, the British government's medical watchdog warned, the traditional view that pregnant women should eat for two is very dangerous. The agency has issued guidelines indicating that pregnant women do not need to increase calorie intake until the last 3 months of pregnancy, when they only need to increase by 200 calories per day, equivalent to a small sandwich.