Explanation
Maxwell Ademei
After all, the onset of chronic lifestyle-related diseases does not occur until adulthood. There is evidence that the seeds of many lifestyle-related diseases begin in childhood, when infants, school children, and even teenagers indulge in unhealthy lifestyles.
What is even more concerning is the suggestion that the origin of such diseases may also originate from the mother’s lifestyle choices. We complain about our obese children and blame them for overeating, but we don’t understand the situation they are in: what we feed them, what we feed them, what we feed them, what we encourage them to eat. and, most importantly, what kind of lifestyle they adopt. A mother’s diet and weight before and during pregnancy have a huge impact.
A woman’s lifestyle before pregnancy has a significant impact on her offspring, and obesity, bad diet, and smoking can affect the baby even before pregnancy. Weight gain during pregnancy can also affect the child’s development. Women with risky lifestyles are more likely to have overweight children. Almost half of women of childbearing age are overweight or obese.
Women who are overweight or have a poor lifestyle before pregnancy are almost five times more likely to have an overweight child. Even before a woman becomes pregnant, her choices can have a surprising impact, including risks such as vitamin D deficiency caused by obesity, smoking, and poor diet.
Combined with excessive weight gain during pregnancy and failure to breastfeed, this can have a dramatic impact on a child’s development.
Researchers found that women who exhibited lifestyle risks before, during, and immediately after pregnancy were 4.65 times more likely to have an overweight child by age 6 and had a 47 percent increase in fat mass. I discovered that.
Those who exhibited four of the five types of “lifestyle risks” – obesity before pregnancy, low vitamin D levels, smoking during pregnancy, excessive weight gain during pregnancy, and failure to breastfeed for more than a month – also They were likely to be at risk for six years. -Older children with 47% more fat mass than children who did not show any risk.
Health programs that wait until children start school may be too late. Early interventions focused on child-bearing years, where women who have children are encouraged to lead healthier lifestyles, as they are known to have a serious impact on childhood obesity. It will be even more beneficial.
Early life may be a critical period in which the regulation of appetite and energy balance is programmed, which has lifelong effects on the risk of excess weight gain.
A recent study in the UK showed that almost half of women of childbearing age are overweight or obese, and more than 15% of pregnant women are considered dangerously overweight. The same may apply to our citizens, given the fact that our obesity levels are much higher than in the UK (TT has the third highest per capita weight in the world after Kuwait and the US). (because it is rated as a country with a
The women in these studies were followed before, during, and after pregnancy, and all children born between 1998 and 2003 underwent regular health checkups.
The results showed that at age 4, children with four or five risk factors were 3.99 times more likely to be overweight and had an average of 19 percent less fat than those with none. It was shown that it was high.
By the age of 6 years, the risk increased, and these children were 4.65 times more likely to be overweight or obese, and their fat mass increased by 47%.
These differences could not be explained by other factors, such as children’s diet quality or physical activity level.
Several other recent studies dig deeper into why pre-pregnancy wild lifestyles may return to haunt future children.
There is now “overwhelming evidence” that poor health can be recorded in a father’s sperm or a mother’s eggs and transmitted to her future children.
Scientists once believed that the sequence of the parents’ DNA, set by the parents, effectively predetermined every aspect of the baby’s nature and structure.
But newer research has led to a more nuanced understanding of genetics, accepting that smoking, diet, and other environmental factors encountered in daily life can make small changes to an individual’s genes.
These epigenetic changes can be passed on to the next generation via eggs and sperm.
Previously, it was thought that lifestyle was irrelevant because a child symbolizes a new beginning, a fresh start. In reality, we are now very convinced that children do not start completely from scratch, but already inherit a legacy of elements from their parents’ experiences that can shape their fetal and postnatal development. can be said to have.
In some situations, children are burdened even before they begin their lives. Therefore, it would be wise if we could focus on women of childbearing age and introduce programs and policies to encourage healthy living, healthy lifestyles, and healthy weights before and during pregnancy. This is an approach. This will not only benefit mothers, but also reduce the burden of future disease and positively impact the health of young people.
Contact Dr. Maxwell at 3631807 or 7575411
