“Maternal obesity reduces child cognitive function”

15/05/2013

Mother’s Obesity before pregnancy is associated with reduced cognitive function of the child at 14 months of age. This is the main conclusion of the study by researchers at the INMA Project and led by Maribel Casas-to assess whether states of overweight and obesity of the mother before pregnancy are associated with neuropsychological development of children between the 11 and 22 months old. This study was conducted in two countries, Spain and Greece, with a moderately high prevalence of obesity (> 8{3effe4377b6f02be2524d084f7d03914ac32a2b62c0a056ca3444e58c1f10d0b}).

The results of the study confirm that there is a direct relationship between maternal obesity and decreased cognitive function early child. This reduction was even taking into account different socio-economic factors and not observed in the offspring of obese parents. The results could be replicated in the two cohorts studied.

In the study, with a sample of over 2,400 mother-child pairs, INMA project researchers conducted individual neuropsychological tests, assessed the impact of potential mediating factors, as could be markers of inflammation, and it was used to father exposure as a negative control.

The results of the study confirm
that there is a direct relationship
between maternal obesity and decreased
cognitive function early child. 

This methodology is to use the parent as an indicator of all those social factors that may be confusing the real association. In this case, if the effect of overweight and obesity on child neurodevelopment was due to intrauterine mechanisms or owned by the mother, this association alone would, or would be more consistent, in the mother than the father.

This study suggests that the reduction
in child cognitive function is probably
due to intrauterine mechanisms 

Obesity is characterized by systemic inflammation that can be transferred to the fetus, increasing oxidative stress and causing a series of changes in the nervous system, and these changes may cause a decrease of cognitive function of the child. Several epidemiological studies have already shown the existence of neuropsychological effects in children of obese mothers, however, had not yet been shown whether these changes were due to intrauterine mechanisms as may be inflammation, or other factors related to the family socioeconomic status or genetics.

This study suggests that the reduction in child cognitive function is probably due to intrauterine mechanisms, although further studies are needed to separate these direct effects of other factors in the mother.