Weight loss surgery can break a family’s cycle of obesity
September 8th, 2009
Family history can play a key role in one’s weight. Indeed, the factor that puts children at the greatest risk of being overweight is having obese parents.1 But a study published this week by the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JECM) suggests that weight loss surgery can help break the obesity cycle in families. The research found that children of obese mothers who had weight loss surgery before getting pregnant had a lower risk of obesity compared to their siblings who were born before their mother had surgery. This study confirms earlier research that shows that a mother’s health can actually predispose her child to certain metabolic conditions.
The JECM study researchers looked at 49 mothers and their 111 children. Some of their children were born before the mother had bariatric surgery and others were born after. The research found that children born after their mother had weight loss surgery were three times less likely to become severely obese. Additionally, the children born after their mother’s surgery had obesity related health risks such as reduced insulin resistance and lower cholesterol levels.
“Our study confirms previous research showing that the interuterine environment may be more important than genes and the post-natal environment when it comes to the association between maternal obesity and childhood obesity,” said the lead author of the paper, Dr. John Kral, of the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, in a news release.
A similar study was presented at the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery meeting in Dallas, TX, June 2009. The study population consisted of 76 children born before their mothers’ bariatric surgery and 73 born after the surgery. Compared with children born to the same mother before surgery, those born after bariatric surgery had a lower birth weight, the researcher Picard Marceau, MD, PhD, of Laval University in Quebec, Canada, said. As the children grew older, those born after their mothers’ obesity surgery had blood glucose, insulin, and insulin resistance values that were 30% lower than those of the before-surgery siblings. Triglycerides were 20% lower, HDL was 12% higher, and total cholesterol/HDL ratio was 13% lower.2
Dr. Marceau credited the surgery for improving the mothers’ internal metabolic environment, which was mirrored in their offspring. “Transmission of obesity is cumulative through generations,” he said. “Morbid obesity is a congenital and treatable condition. To curb the obesity epidemic, the focus must be on pregnancies. Medical or surgical treatment for obesity before pregnancy is salutary for offspring.”
Obese women already have an increased rate of infertility and a greater chance of birth defects and other pregnancy complications, such as gestational diabetes.3 These studies show that obese women who are planning to have children should make an effort to lose weight through weight loss surgery or behavior modification before becoming pregnant.
1. Stanford University: “Childhood Obesity Prevention.” Available at http://feeding.stanford.edu/facts.html. Accessed Sept 2, 2009.
2. Marceau P, et al “Successful bariatric surgery in the mother improves health of offspring” Surg Obesity Related Dis 2009; 5(35 Suppl): Abstract PL-110.
3. Boyles, Salynn (February 3, 2006). “WebMD.” Available at http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20060203/obesity-increases-risks-in-pregnancy, Accessed Sept 2, 2009.
Entry Filed under: Obesity Today, weight loss surgery
