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ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION |
1 From the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom (MK); the MRC Centre for Causal Analyses in Translational Epidemiology, Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom (DAL and GDS); the Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland (ME, MJ, and LK-J); and the Departments of Medicine (JSAV) and Clinical Physiology (OTR), University of Turku, Turku, Finland
Background: According to the fetal overnutrition hypothesis, intrauterine influences of maternal obesity increased lifelong obesity risk in the offspring. If the hypothesis is true, then the association between maternal body mass index (BMI; in kg/m2) and offspring BMI should be stronger than the association between paternal BMI and offspring BMI, because only the mother directly influences the fetal environment.
Objectives: We prospectively examined intergenerational change in BMI and tested the fetal overnutrition hypothesis.
Design: Data on offspring weight were obtained from mothers. BMI was assessed from 2980 complete parent-offspring trios when the offspring were 3 to 18 y of age. The assessment of offspring BMI was repeated 21 y later at age 24–39 y.
Results: Adult BMI of the offspring was 1.21 units higher than the BMI of their parents at the same age, which indicates an increase in obesity levels across generations (P < 0.0001). Maternal BMI was more strongly associated with offspring birth weight than was paternal BMI (P = 0.0009). However, there were no such differences in parent-offspring associations for BMI at later developmental stages when offspring were aged 3-39 y (P > 0.35). The results did not materially change in a sensitivity analysis for 1% to 15% nonpaternity.
Conclusions: Because offspring share all genes with their parents, the observed substantially higher adult BMI for offspring than for parents is likely explained by environmental influences. No support was found for any specific influence from fetal environment on this intergenerational increase in adult obesity. The findings were consistent with the fetal overnutrition hypothesis only in relation to birth weight.
Key Words: Body mass index • obesity • fetal overnutrition hypothesis • cardiovascular disease risk • Finns
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T. J Cole, C. Power, and G. E Moore Intergenerational obesity involves both the father and the mother Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, May 1, 2008; 87(5): 1535 - 1536. [Full Text] [PDF]
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D. A Lawlor, G. D. Smith, and M. Kivimaki Reply to TJ Cole et al Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, May 1, 2008; 87(5): 1536 - 1537. [Full Text] [PDF]
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