Study shows overweight mothers more likely to have children with asthma

According to one study, women who were overweight before becoming pregnant are more likely to have children with asthma.

Japanese researchers found that mothers who were obese before becoming pregnant were 28% more likely to have a child with asthma before the age of three.

Overweight women were 17% more likely to have a baby with asthma than healthy-weight women.

Some experts have suggested that this may be because overweight women produce more of the hormone leptin, which can make the airways of their unborn babies more sensitive.

Co-author Dr Emiko Noguchi from the University of Tsukuba said:[These findings] This is important because asthma is often a lifelong condition that can disrupt daily life.’

Asthma is the most common long-term condition in children in the UK, affecting around one in 11 young people.

The study, which included more than 67,000 women, was published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

The women’s pre-pregnancy weights were obtained from their medical records or from a questionnaire.

Three-quarters had a normal body mass index (BMI), while about 7% were overweight before becoming pregnant and about 2% were obese.

11% of children had asthma before the age of three.

A higher risk of asthma in children of obese mothers than healthy mothers was also found when other important factors were taken into account.

These included whether the mothers had asthma, what they passed on to their children before, as well as whether they smoked during pregnancy, which makes asthma more common in infants, and the sex of their children, as childhood asthma is more common in boys. †

The authors note, however, that the study was conducted in Japan, where obesity is much less common than in the United Kingdom.

The researchers also found that childhood cow’s milk and egg allergies are less common in young children and infants born to overweight mothers, and the reason for this is unclear.

When the researchers looked at that as well, the study found no association between maternal weight and infant eczema.

But analysis of women who participated in a Japanese national survey between 2011 and 2014 supports previous evidence that asthma is more common in infants born to overweight mothers.

A 2011 study suggested that obese pregnant women may put their children at risk of developing asthma.

The study, involving nearly 130,000 Swedish mothers, found that children of very obese women were 57% more likely to develop asthma than children of healthy mothers.

Children whose mothers were slightly overweight and had a BMI between 25 and 30 also had a slightly increased risk of asthma.

“Women should be mindful of their weight before pregnancy to reduce the risk of many diseases and possibly the risk of their baby getting asthma,” said Dr Noguchi of the new findings.