Bariatric Surgical in Moms Improves Cardio-Metabolic Markers in Kids

The authors report that, "Reducing the exposure of fetuses to an obesigenic in utero environment" brings about "a dramatic decrease" in severe obesity and metabolic disturbances in these children.

Dr. Picard Marceau from Laval University, Quebec, Canada, and colleagues studied anthropometric and cardio-metabolic blood levels in 49 mothers who had sustained weight loss after bariatric procedures and in their 111 offspring aged 2.5 to 26 years who were born either before or after the surgery.

After bariatric surgery, the mothers had significantly lower body weight, body-mass index, glucose, and lipids, the authors report. Bariatric weight loss was also associated with a reduction in the number of pregnancy complications and pregnancy-related hospitalizations.

Children born after bariatric surgery weighed less than children born before bariatric surgery, the researchers note, and the rate of macrosomia was reduced from 14.8% in children born before bariatric surgery to 1.8% in the children born afterward.

More than a third of children born before bariatric surgery (35.2%) were severely obese, versus only 10.5% of children born after bariatric surgery.

Total cholesterol/high density lipoprotein cholesterol ratios were lower and HDL cholesterol levels were higher in children born after bariatric surgery.

All indices of insulin resistance were decreased in children born after bariatric surgery. They also had lower C-reactive protein and leptin levels and higher ghrelin levels than did children born before bariatric surgery.

"Because obese children often go on to become obese adults, exposing them to greater cumulative damage from years of metabolic derangements, these data emphasize how critical it is to prevent obesity and treat it effectively in order to prevent further transmission to future generations," the authors emphasize.

"Severely obese women should be encouraged to lose weight before becoming pregnant," they add. "During pregnancy they should be encouraged to modify their eating behavior."