Paternal obesity modifies the effect of an antenatal lifestyle intervention in women who are overweight or obese on newborn anthropometry

Abstract

The contribution of paternal obesity to pregnancy outcomes has been little described. Our aims were to determine whether the effect of an antenatal maternal dietary and lifestyle intervention among women who are overweight or obese on newborn adiposity, was modified by paternal obesity. We conducted a secondary analysis of a multicenter randomised trial. Pregnant women with BMI ≥25 kg/m2 received either Lifestyle Advice or Standard Care. Paternal anthropometric measures included height, weight, BMI; waist, hip, calf and mid-upper arm circumferences; biceps and calf skinfold thickness measurements (SFTM); and percentage body fat. Newborn anthropometric outcomes included length; weight; head, arm, abdominal, and chest circumferences; biceps, triceps, subscapular, suprailiac, thigh, and lateral abdominal wall SFTM; and percentage body fat. The effect of an antenatal maternal dietary and lifestyle intervention among women who were overweight or obese on neonatal anthropometric measures, was significantly modified by paternal BMI ≥35.0 kg/m2, with a significantly smaller infant triceps, suprailiac, and thigh SFTM, and percent fat mass, compared with that observed in offspring of lean fathers. Further research is required to determine whether our observed associations are causal, and whether paternal weight loss prior to conception is a potential strategy to reduce the intergenerational effects of obesity.

Effect of Lifestyle Interventions in Obese Pregnant Women on the Neurocognitive Development and Anthropometrics of Preschool Children

“…Another possible explanation is the key role that fathers have in the offspring eating habits and physical activity [32][33][34]. In the present study, many fathers of children from obese mothers had a remarkably high body weight, possibly moderating the effect of the lifestyle interventions [35]. Finally, future studies on the long-term effectiveness of lifestyle interventions during pregnancy could potentially benefit from a smaller age range when assessing the children.…”

In Overweight or Obese Pregnant Women, Maternal Dietary Factors are not Associated with Fetal Growth and Adiposity

“…One study assessed dietary intake between 8 and 12 weeks and found carbohydrate consumption was associated with increase in birthweight, whereas fat intake was associated with lower birthweight [ 19 ]. It is also likely that the fetal programming of infant growth patterns is much more complex, with the impact of epigenetics, paternal factors, postnatal environment [ 45 ].…”

“…There is growing interest in strategies to optimise both maternal and paternal dietary intake and weight in the peri-conceptual period [ 3 , 58 , 59 ]. This primary prevention strategy may reduce the intergenerational transmission of obesity from mother to child and may improve pregnancy outcomes [ 2 , 45 , 60 ]. Further studies are required to understand the timing of and factors relating to programming of fetal growth and body composition.…”

The Impact of Father’s Health on Reproductive and Infant Health and Development

“…Epigenetic changes in their offspring have been associated with father's diet. A growing epidemiologic literature shows that fathers' weight and BMI status independently influences the birth weight, obesity, and diabetes of their offspring (e.g., Dodd et al 2017). For example, during Swedish famines, low and high food availability in pre-pubescent adolescents males led to changes in their children's and grandchildren's obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular health, especially among sons, independent of their mother's health and food exposure; these were epigenetic changes too fast for spontaneous genetic alterations (Brygren et al 2001;Kaati et al 2002).…”

“…There is increasing theoretical recognition that fathers could directly contribute to infant obesity prevention and metabolic health, perhaps starting even prior to birth (Davison et al 2019), yet few nutrition interventions directly target fathers (Morgan et al 2017;Davison et al 2017). Father's own weight is an independent predictor of childhood obesity (Freeman et al 2012;Dodd et al 2017).…”