Oct. 7, 2022 – Moms who consume ultra-processed food during pregnancy may contribute to their children being obese or overweight in childhood and adolescence, a new study suggests.
Among the 19,958 mother-child pairs studied, 12.4% of children developed obesity or overweight in the full study group, and the children of those mothers who ate the most ultra-processed foods (12.1 servings/day) had a 26% higher risk of obesity/overweight, compared with those with the lowest consumption (3.4 servings/day), reports Andrew T. Chan, MD, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and colleagues.
The results were published online in the journal BMJ.
The study shows the potential benefits…
