Maternal Stress as a cause of Obesity of children
In Germany more and more Obese. Also many children are much too thick. Researchers now have a new risk factor for obesity development in the toddler age identified: the Stress of the mother.
More and more children are to thick
Health experts warn against the risks due to Obesity. Obesity in childhood and adolescence can have dangerous health consequences, and, among other things, the risk for hypertension and type 2 Diabetes later in life increase. Nevertheless, the number of obese children has increased worldwide in recent years. In this country many children are much too thick. German researchers were able to the perceived Stress of the mother in the first year of the child as a risk factor for obesity development in the toddler age.
Risk factors for Obesity
In Germany, almost ten percent of children between two and six years are overweight, of which approximately three percent are even obese.
High calorie diet and lack of exercise are known risk factors for Obesity.
“Maternal Stress is also suspected to contribute to the development of Obesity in children,” explains food scientist Dr. Kristin Young from the Helmholtz-centre for environmental research (UFZ) in Leipzig, said in a statement.
“Just the window of time during pregnancy and in the first years of life is in the child’s development is very sensitive to external influences, which can lead to disease or Obesity”, says the expert.
And psychological influences may include, for example, maternal Stress.
Effects on the weight development of girls
UFZ researchers have now found, together with scientists from the Berlin Institute for health research / Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), as well as colleagues from the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin found that the perceived Stress of the mother favored in the first year of the child Obesity in the toddler age.
As the researchers in the journal “BMC Public Health”, impact of maternal Stress, especially on the weight development of girls and lead to a long-term character.
To reach their conclusions, and evaluated the team of researchers, data of 498 mother-child pairs from the mother-child study LiNA.
From the information about the size and weight, the scientists calculated the Body Mass Index (BMI) of the children, and normed it on age and gender.
The perceived Stress of the mothers during pregnancy and during the first two years of life the children they were collected using validated questionnaires, the Worries, the issues and Fears, tension, General satisfaction, as well as dealing with day to day requirements involved.
Then, you put both data sets in relation to each other.
Stressed-out mothers are more likely to have obese children as laid-back mothers
“The data for the perceived Stress of the mothers during pregnancy and in the first two years of life of the child, we have set the development of the BMI of the children up to their fifth birthday the ratio, and see if there is a connection,” says biochemist Dr. Beate Leppert, first author of the study, who now works at the University of Bristol.
“We have seen clearly that the perceived Stress of the mother during the first year of life of the child with the weight development of the child in the first five years of life depends on,” explains Irina Lehmann, in a communication of the Berlin Institute for health research.
“Stressed-out mothers are more likely to have obese children as laid-back mothers,” says the researcher.
“Particularly striking is the influence of maternal Stress on girls,” adds Saskia Trump.
Studies have shown that young to compensate for possibly the Stress of the mothers better. No influence on the weight of the child maternal Stress during pregnancy or during the second year of life the children had.
“The first year of life seems to be a sensitive period for the propensity to be Overweight formative,” says Kristin Young from the UFZ, one of the two First authors of the study.
“At this time the condition of the mother should therefore be given special attention,” she adds.
Causes for maternal Stress
“To find out why the mothers were during pregnancy and in the first two years of life the children stressed out, we looked at the data again,” says Beate Leppert.
“In particular, we have taken the living conditions of the mothers under the microscope.”
They discovered that the stressed-out mothers were living more often than not-getresste mothers in a simple home environment, more noise and road traffic were suspended, and, on average, a lower household income had.
Stressed mothers don’t leave you alone
“We want to make with our study on the Problem of the stressed mothers attention,” says Irina Lehmann. “Not at all, you should leave your Problem alone.”
“Midwives, women, children, and family doctors should be in the first year after the birth of the child particularly attentive to signs of Stress,” says Young.
“There are already many good sources of help for young mothers, many know nothing about it. When you approach here, you could help the mothers and possibly have their children later Obesity spare,“ explains Saskia Trump.
In future research, the Team wants to examine what other risk factors can shape the child’s weight development and what mechanisms are involved in long-lasting dysregulation of the metabolism. (ad)