High weight gain during pregnancy may be linked to daughters’ subsequent body composition, according to a study published in Obesity. Elizabeth M. Widen, PhD, RD, and colleagues developed a mother-child dyad trajectory model of weight and body composition spanning conception to adolescence to understand how early life exposures shape childhood body composition. The model included 337 African-American (49.3%) and Dominican (50.7%) pregnant mothers who were enrolled during pregnancy, with follow-up until their children were aged 14. They identified four prenatal and child body composition trajectory patterns. Sex-specific patterns were observed for the joint gestational weight gain (GWG)-postnatal body composition trajectories, with distinct patterns seen among girls but not boys. Specifically, girls of mothers with high GWG across gestation had the highest BMI z score, waist circumference, and percentage body fat trajectories from ages 5-14. Similar growth patterns were not seen in boys in this high GWG group.
