“Obesity Cycle” in Families Smashed By Weight-Loss Surgery

Mothers who had undergone surgery prior to getting pregnant had slimmer kids, study found

The children of obese mothers have the tendency to become obese as well, but a recently conducted study suggests that surgery aimed to shed excess weight is capable of breaking that cycle.

The study found that obese women who went through weight-loss surgery before getting pregnant had kids with lesser chances of becoming overweight when compared with siblings who were born before the mothers had undergone weight-loss surgery.

The findings of the study show evidence that the intrauterine environment is important, which appears to beat even the genetic makeup of the child and the environment in which he or she is raised.

These results will see publication in the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Obesity has increasingly affected many people; and this condition can result in the development of resistance to insulin, cardiovascular disorders as well complications of pregnancy. In highly industrialized countries, obesity plays a principal role in the causes of mortality. In the past, studies of pregnant women who were obese have revealed that obesity and its associated medical conditions can be passed to children, which is indicative that the intrauterine environment may have a say as to whether the child is fated to become obese or not.

In a news release issued by the Endocrine Society, Co-author of the study, Dr. John Kral, of the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, mentioned that their study offers confirmation to previous research indicating that the intrauterine environment may play a more important role than genes and post-delivery environment when the connection of maternal obesity to childhood obesity is being considered. “Any medical or surgical treatment to reduce obesity and existing metabolic disorders before pregnancy can be an investment in the life of future offspring,” Kral said.

The focus of the new study was on women who went through a weight-loss surgical procedure known as bilio-pancreatic diversion prior to getting pregnant. The weight-loss procedure modifies the digestion process by reducing the size of the stomach and directing food to circumvent a section of the small intestine, which can result in the absorption of fewer calories.

For the study, the researchers looked at 49 mothers who had undergone bilio-pancreatic diversion procedure and their 111 children between 2.5 and 25 years of age. All of the mothers who participated in the study had delivered children prior to and after their weight-loss surgery.

The authors of the study further found that children who were born after their mothers had undergone weight-loss surgery weighed lower at birth and had lower waist circumference and were thrice less likely to suffer from severe obesity than their older siblings born prior to the weight-loss surgery. Moreover, the researchers found that younger children also showed improvements in terms of cardiovascular markers, including reduced resistance to insulin and lower cholesterol levels.