Before I conceived both of my children, I was at the peak of my physical health. I was hiking and practicing yoga daily, as well as eating an organic vegetarian diet. As my belly grew, these practices (except for the organic diet) began to wane; however, I still made an effort on most days. A recent article in the New York Times suggests that maternal diet is key to preventing childhood (and adult) obesity.
Studies involving rats show that when having access to junk food, pregnant rats ate roughly 40 percent more food and 56 percent more calories than rats who were fed just chow. Furthermore, once born, babies of the junk food rat mommas showed a preference for high fat and sugar foods and ate more than their chow fed peers. Does this research translate to humans?
Obesity is on the rise, especially in the United States, where over 1/3 of women of childbearing age are obese. When you consider about 1/3 of American’s calories come from junk food, what are junk food eating mommas doing to their kids? According to Barbara Kingsolver in her amazing book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle:
US farmers now produce 3,900 calories per U.S. citizen, per day. That is twice what we need and 700 calories a day more than they grew in 1980…And here is the shocking plot twist: as the farmers produced those extra calories, the food industry figured out how to get them into the bodies of people who didn’t really want to eat 700 more calories a day…So did the American waistline. U.S. consumption of “added fats” has increased by one-third since 1975, and our HFCS [high fructose corn syrup] is up by 1000 percent.
I don’t think that any woman who has struggled with weight issues wants to pass that on to her children, but unless she loses weight before conceiving, she may be doing just that. One study found that women who underwent anti-obesity surgery had children with different tendencies towards being overweight whether they were conceived before or after the surgery.
An obese womb may have a different environment than that of a mother of normal weight. According to the New York Times:
Moreover, many factors contribute to someone’s becoming obese, and picking them apart is tricky. Added to that, an “obese” environment in the womb has two separate elements: the nutrients provided by the mother via the food she eats, and the hormonal environment of someone who is overweight. (Being obese can profoundly alter a woman’s hormonal profile.)…Why might this happen? Perhaps an “obese” environment in the womb alters the wiring of the developing brain so as to interfere with normal appetite control, fat deposition, taste in food, or metabolism. Studies on other animals suggest that parts of the brain that control appetite develop differently under “obese” conditions. And in humans, one study has found that babies born to obese mothers have lower resting metabolic rates than babies whose mothers are of normal weight.
I think we need to educate women to the risks of obesity on their unborn children; it may be the only way to reverse the epidemic short of removing all junk food from the American diet. I worried my plump breastfed babe would grow to an overweight child, but my prenatal health and diet ensured she would slim down to a normal weight once she became an active toddler. As a teacher and mother, I have empathy for overweight children as they struggle to fit in with their slimmer peers and find appropriate clothes to fit their bodies. Perhaps if women just gave up junk food while pregnant, these children would have a better chance at a normal weight.
Image: Top News
Thanks for this post. I find it very enlighting.
My mother is morbidily obese and while I am not considered obese, I’ve hung onto five pounds of baby weight with each child and feel it my responsibility to lose those 10 lbs before I get pregnant again. At a size 8-10 (I’m 5’5″), I’m not freaking out – but a recent visit w/my mother (who’s knees are giving out and has type II diabetes) has left me more than concerned. My mother has always ate poorly and out of her four children, two are obese, one very thin and I, at 31 and two children, am just beginning the battle of weight. However, my issues aren’t with overeating on junk. I’ve educated myself and purged my house of trans fats, artificial colors, flavors/ sweeteners, preservatives, GMO’s, refined sugar, high frutose corn syrup and so on. My problem is that I love to cook. Also, I’m an American living in Europe and am very passionate about trying new foods (ethnic, etc). I try EVERYTHING. Cooking/Baking and trying new foods is something that brings me great joy. The problem I got from my mother is: No portion control. I never learned to respect my body in watching the amount of what I eat at each meal. If the stuff that’s being served tastes good, I have trouble stopping myself from going back for more. My mouth waters and my mind BEGS for more – even if I’m not hungry. Organic, low-fat, whole-grain apple muffin, I’ll take three, please.
This has become a mental battle like no other. Giving birth naturally, in the water, was a walk in the park in comparison to the struggle I have with portion control.
After reading this post, I wonder, did I actually develop this problem from watching my mother eat or from her incontrollable, bad eating when she was pregnant for me? Or both??? I’m thinking both…