Infant Body Composition and Adipokine Concentrations in Relation to Maternal Gestational Weight Gain

Abstract

OBJECTIVETo investigate associations of maternal gestational weight gain and body composition and their impact on offspring body composition and adipocytokine, glucose, and insulin concentrations at age 4 months.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSThis was a prospective study including 31 mother-infant pairs (N = 62). Maternal body composition was assessed using doubly labeled water. Infant body composition was assessed at 4 months using air displacement plethysmography, and venous blood was assayed for glucose, insulin, adiponectin, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and leptin concentrations.RESULTSRate of gestational weight gain in midpregnancy was significantly associated with infant fat mass (r = 0.41, P = 0.03); rate of gestational weight in late pregnancy was significantly associated with infant fat-free mass (r = 0.37, P = 0.04). Infant birth weight was also strongly correlated with infant fat-free mass at 4 months (r = 0.63, P = 0.0002). Maternal BMI and maternal fat mass were strongly inversely associated with infant IL-6 concentrations (r = −0.60, P = 0.002 and r = −0.52, P = 0.01, respectively). Infant fat-free mass was inversely related to infant adiponectin concentrations (r = −0.48, P = 0.008) and positively correlated with infant blood glucose adjusted for insulin concentrations (r = 0.42, P = 0.04). No significant associations for leptin were observed.CONCLUSIONSTiming of maternal weight gain differentially impacts body composition of the 4-month-old infant, which in turn appears to affect the infant’s glucose and adipokine concentrations.

Maternal obesity and offspring body composition by indirect methods: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Ten studies assessed the relationship between gestational weight gain and offspring body composition 6,27,28,29,30,31,41,42,43,44 Four studies 31,41,42,44 assessed gestational weight gain according to pre-pregnancy BMI and divided it into categories as recommended by the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences 45 . Sewell et al 29 applied a pre-pregnancy BMI cut-off ≥ 25kg/m 2 .…”

“…Seven studies assessed gestational weight gain as a continuous variable 6,27,28,30,31,37,42 . Six studies measured body composition in newborns 6,27,29,41,42,44 , one in children under a year in age 43 and five in children from 3-10 years of age 28,30,31,42,43 .…”

“…The relationship between gestational weight gain and body fat percent was evaluated in seven studies 6,27,29,31,37,41,44 , fat mass in nine 6,29,32,36,37,39,40,41,43 , and FMI in two 28,31 (Table 3). Five studies reported a statistically significant positive effect of gestational weight gain on body fat percent in univariate analysis 6,29,31,41,44 and three studies 27,31,37 reported a positive effect between gestational weight gain and body fat percent in the multivariate analysis.…”

“…The relationship of maternal gestational weight gain and fat-free mass was evaluated in seven studies 6,31,37,41,42,43,44 and between maternal gestational weight gain and LMI or FFMI (fat free mass index) in two 28,31 (Table 3). A positive effect of gestational weight gain on fat-free mass was reported in six studies 6,29,31,41,42,44 , and this association was statistically significant in three of them 6,29,31 .…”

“…Gale et al 28 however reported an inverse association of gestational weight gain on LMI. The crude analyses of the studies that categorized gestational weight gain according to maternal pre-pregnancy BMI showed that children of overweight or obese mothers, with an adequate or excessive gestational weight gain were more likely to have a high fat mass 6,29,31,41,42,43 , body fat percent 6,29,31,41,44 , and FFMI 28,31 compared to newborns of mothers with normal maternal pre-pregnancy BMI with adequate or excessive weight gain (Table 3).…”