Childhood obesity link to mother's diabetes

The risk of childhood obesity is significantly lowered if the mother is treated for diabetes during pregnancy, according to new research.

The report, conducted by Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research (CHR) in Portland and Hawaii, has discovered that untreated gestational diabetes nearly doubles a child's risk of becoming obese between ages five to seven.

Gestational diabetes affects eight per cent of women in the US every year and is the condition in which pregnancy triggers insulin resistance and raises the woman's blood glucose level.

"The obesity risk of children whose mothers had the highest blood sugar levels - and were treated for gestational diabetes - was not statistically different than children of mothers with normal blood sugar levels," said Teresa Hillier, lead author of the study.

"This suggests that the 'metabolic imprinting' for childhood obesity that results from gestational diabetes in pregnant women may be reversible," she added.

The research is to appear in the September issue of the journal, Diabetes Care.