Pregnancy Diabetes May Affect Daughter’s Weight

Daughters of women with high blood sugar during pregnancy may be more likely to become overweight as children, a new study finds. The risk was especially strong if the mothers developed gestational diabetes while they were pregnant. This form of diabetes goes away after childbirth. The study included 421 girls. They were 6 to 8 years old when the study began. Researchers kept track of them for about 6 years. They also looked at medical records of the girls’ mothers. During pregnancy, 27 mothers developed gestational diabetes. Their daughters were 3.5 times as likely to become overweight during childhood as those whose mothers had normal blood sugar. Their risk increased to 5.5 times normal if their mothers also had been overweight before pregnancy. The daughters of women with gestational diabetes also were more likely to have large waists or more body fat.