Researchers Finding Pregnancy Lifestyles May Have Lifetime Consequences

Not too long ago, just being born with ten fingers and ten toes was cause for celebration.

It still is, though medical science now expects much more, both from the newborn baby and from the mother.

For example, health care providers now know that how much you weigh at birth is a factor that may have implications not only during childhood but the rest of your life.

Scientists aren’t completely sure why. What they do know is that a variety of metabolic programming events take place throughout the baby’s body during pregnancy --- programming that can be affected by what mothers do during this crucial time.

“We still want babies born with all their fingers and toes,” says Dr. Robert Keith, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System nutritionist and Auburn University professor of nutrition and food science. “But mothers should be equally concerned about an adequate weight gain during pregnancy to better ensure that their babies are not underweight at birth.”

Medical researchers are learning that small babies, born at less than 5 ½ pounds, face a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, hypertension and type II (adult-onset) diabetes during adulthood.

The new findings about birth weight, which have been supported by numerous studies in recent years, present young mothers with an added burden during pregnancy.

“It really is an awesome responsibility when you think about it,” Keith says. “It means that whatever a woman does during pregnancy could have major implications for her child throughout this life.”

For average-sized women, one of the best ways to ensure that the baby weighs enough is to gain about30 extra pounds during pregnancy --- a goal, he concedes, smacks right in the face of some earlier recommendations.

“There was a time 40 or 50 yeas ago when expectant mothers were encouraged not to gain so much weight so their babies would remain small --- a factor believed to ease the birthing process,” he says.

For many women, there’s the added reservation about keeping up appearances in a society that values thinness above all other physical attributes.

“Many women want to look like they always have during pregnancy,” Keith says. “But for the sake of the person they’re going to have, they need to gain weight.

“The fact is, being born at a low birth weight is one of the worst things we can find right now regarding prenatal nutrition.”

As a rule, thinner women should gain slightly more than the recommended 30 pounds, while heavier women should gain somewhat less.

Preborn children undergo a process known as fetal programming --- a process that is influenced not only by weight gain of the mother during pregnancy but by other factors. Research has also revealed for example children born to women who suffered excessively from morning sickness tended to display a higher craving for salt in adulthood --- a factor that can contribute to elevated blood pressure.

“The thinking behind this concept is that during pregnancy, the baby undergoes all sorts of programming that affects cognitive function, fat storage and a host of other factors that he or she will carry through the rest of his or her life,” Keith says.

“A lot of subtle things are taking place that may not show up into until later in life.”

In effect, mothers who fail to gain adequate weight during pregnancy may compromise this fetal programming, which could result in the child growing up in less desirable ways.

“One good way of summing this up is that ‘you are what your mother eats,’” Keith says.

[Source: Dr. Robert Keith, Alabama Cooperative Extension System Nutritionist and Auburn University Professor of Nutrition and Food Science, (334) 844-3273.]

Posted by Jim Langcuster at March 11, 2005 04:10 PM