Maternal obesity increases oxidative stress in the newborn

Abstract

Objective: Obesity before pregnancy is associated with a greater risk for the offspring to develop obesity and diabetes in childhood and adulthood. The aim of the present study was to determine the association between maternal overweight or obesity before pregnancy and newborn oxidative stress (OS).

Methods: Seventy-two mother-child pairs were divided according to the pre-gestational body mass index (BMI) of the mothers as follows: eutrophic (n = 21), overweight (n = 32), and obese (n = 19). Malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) were measured in the plasma of a blood sample from the newborn's umbilical cord.

Results: The MDA levels of newborns increased with maternal BMI (P = 0.001), as did the levels of NO (P = 0.019). There was a direct correlation between MDA and NO levels in each of the three groups (eutrophic: R(2) = 0.59, P < 0.001; overweight: R(2) = 0.45, P < 0.001; and obese: R(2) = 0.26, P = 0.024).

Conclusions: Maternal overweight and obesity before pregnancy are associated with increased OS in the offspring.