Binging Counter-Indicated Not Even, but Especially in Pregnancy: Excessive Gestational Weight Gain Associated With Higher Body Fat in Infants
A recent study conducted by a group of researchers from New York ( Hull. 2011 ) found that excessive gestational weight gain in already overweight women had detrimental consequences on the body composition of their offspring: [I]nfants from obese mothers had greater percent fat (%fat) and FM than offspring from normal and overweight mothers. Within the excessive group, infants from normal mothers had less %fat and FM than infants from overweight and obese mothers. This is alarming news, especially if one takes into consideration the results of Conan et al. from Harvard ( Conan. 2010 ) who found that "birth weight [and I would suppose body fat even more so] is significantly associated with incident AF [arterial fibration]" in later life. Figure 1: Infant body fat [%] in formerly normal, overweight and obese women with either appropriate of excessive gestational weight gain These results should remind mothers-to-be that the good old saying "you are what you eat...