Background: Excess maternal adiposity during pregnancy has lasting effects on child outcomes including increased risk of overweight/obesity, which drives disease development. Prenatal interventions are a potential avenue to curb childhood obesity rates, but little is known on their long-term influence on offspring adiposity.
Objective: Review the evidence for lasting effects of prenatal interventions on child adiposity.
Methods: Three databases were searched for follow-up studies of completed prenatal RCTs that involved a diet, exercise, or combined (diet and exercise) intervention, and assessed offspring adiposity-related outcomes beyond birth.
Results: A total of 18 follow-up studies describing 4277 offspring were included. Anthropometrics were collected in all studies while body composition was measured in 15 of the studies. Diet or exercise interventions did not have a consistent significant effect on child adiposity. Three combined interventions resulted in lower levels of child adiposity at 3, 6, and 12 months.
Conclusions: No strong association was found between prenatal diet, exercise, or combined interventions and child adiposity. Data are limited due to 63.6% overall retention rate for the follow-up studies and heterogeneity of intervention approach and child adiposity measures. Findings suggest combined interventions initiated early in pregnancy may decrease offspring adiposity in the first year of life.
Keywords: adiposity; child; intervention; obesity; pregnancy.
© 2022 World Obesity Federation.