Mom’s Weight Loss Surgery May Break Obesity Cycle in Kids
May 29, 2013There just may be another added bonus for moms who under go weight loss surgery. A new Canadian study suggests that children born to moms who have had the surgery may be less likely to become obese than their siblings who were born before the weight loss surgery was performed.
Researchers tested siblings who were born when the mother was obese and those born after the mother had weight loss surgery and found that the children born after the surgery was performed were slimmer than their older siblings and also had fewer risk factors for heart disease, diabetes, and other obesity-related health issues as they grow older.
The study revealed that although the mom passes on the same genes to each sibling, the weight loss and nutritional changes impacts factors inside the womb which affects how the genes behave or operate. More specifically, the chemical changes make the genes switch on or off and speed up or slow down which can influence health.
"What's clear is that obesity is not just impacting your life, it's impacting your child," said Dr. Susan Murphy of Duke University. Murphy studies uterine effects on long-term health but was not a participant in the Canadian research.