Maternal Obesity: A Focus on Maternal Interventions to Improve Health of Offspring

Abstract

Maternal obesity has many implications for offspring health that persist throughout their lifespan that include obesity and cardiovascular complications. Several different factors contribute to obesity and they encompass interplay between genetics and environment. In the prenatal period, untreated obesity establishes a foundation for a myriad of symptoms and negative delivery experiences, including gestational hypertensive disorders, gestational diabetes, macrosomia, and labor complications. However, data across human and animal studies show promise that nutritional interventions and physical activity may rescue much of the adverse effects of obesity on offspring metabolic health. Further, these maternal interventions improve the health of the offspring by reducing weight gain, cardiovascular disorders, and improving glucose tolerance. Mechanisms from animal studies have also been proposed to elucidate the signaling pathways that regulate inflammation, lipid metabolism, and oxidative capacity of the tissue, ultimately providing potential specific courses of treatment. This review aims to pinpoint the risks of maternal obesity and provide plausible intervention strategies. We delve into recent research involving both animal and human studies with maternal interventions. With the increasing concerning of obesity rates witnessed in the United States, it is imperative to acknowledge the long-term effects posed on future generations and specifically modify maternal nutrition and care to mitigate these adverse outcomes.

Maternal Obesity as a Risk Factor for Caesarean Delivery in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review

“…The multiple comorbidities and complications associated with maternal obesity can be reduced if overweight, obesity, and excess gestational weight gain can be reduced in women of reproductive age [24]. Medical and obstetric management of obesity-associated complications during gestation, especially of blood glucose [14] and hypertension, should be accompanied with promotion of public health recommendations for a healthy diet and engaging in moderate physical exercise during pregnancy [12,21,28,57].…”

“…Overweight and obese women have increased risk of maternal complications including gestational hypertensive disorders, pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus, induction of labour, prolonged labour, instrumental vaginal delivery, caesarean delivery, spontaneous and medically indicated preterm birth, miscarriage, postpartum haemorrhage, pulmonary embolism, genitourinary tract infection, postpartum weight retention, and maternal mortality. Their offsprings are also at increased risk of complications including congenital abnormalities, stillbirth, macrosomia (birthweight ≥ 4000 g), shoulder dystocia, respiratory distress syndrome, and intrauterine (foetal) and neonatal death [14,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. In addition, both mother and infant are at a greater risk of developing subsequent non-communicable diseases such as obesity and cardiometabolic diseases later in life [18,19,22,24].…”

Inflammatory Signatures of Maternal Obesity as Risk Factors for Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Role of Maternal Microbiota and Nutritional Intervention Strategies

“…Notwithstanding the great efforts of clinical practitioners to inform the general population about the risks related to excessive BMI, particularly during pregnancy, and the recommendation to reduce or contain gestational weight gain, compliance to diet regimens and to moderate physical exercise during pregnancy is very low and women are likely to maintain pre-pregnancy lifestyle until parturition (and even to gain weight during lactation) [ 94 ]. In this context safe and effective nutritional strategies, with limited side-effects, are becoming of utmost importance as rates of obesity continue to increase and the long-term negative effects on the offspring health is becoming more and more apparent [ 95 ]. Thus, addressing proper dietary supplementation might provide a broad-spectrum promising and feasible strategy to prevent or counteract the disruptive effects of the “inflamed womb”.…”

Influence of High Energy Diet and Polygenic Predisposition for Obesity on Postpartum Health in Rat Dams

“…Proposed by Barker in the late 20th century (The International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, 2003;Barker, 2007), the developmental origins of health and disease hypothesis (DOHaD) suggests that the maternal environment impacts the long-term health and wellbeing of the offspring. Consistent with this hypothesis, maternal obesity is a significant predictor for childhood obesity, and increases the risk for metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease in the offspring later in life (Strauss and Knight, 1999;Catalano et al, 2009;Shrestha et al, 2021). A majority of research employing rodent models of maternal obesity has focused on the intergenerational consequences: a genetic predisposition for obesity, environmental factors, like diet, and their interaction contribute to this intergenerational risk of metabolic disorders (Huls et al, 2021).…”