Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 May 19;18(5):1093.
doi: 10.3390/ijms18051093.

A Review of the Impact of Maternal Obesity on the Cognitive Function and Mental Health of the Offspring

Laura Contu  1 , Cheryl A Hawkes  2
Affiliations
Review

A Review of the Impact of Maternal Obesity on the Cognitive Function and Mental Health of the Offspring

Laura Contu et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Globally, more than 20% of women of reproductive age are currently estimated to be obese. Children born to obese mothers are at higher risk of developing obesity, coronary heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and asthma in adulthood. Increasing clinical and experimental evidence suggests that maternal obesity also affects the health and function of the offspring brain across the lifespan. This review summarizes the current findings from human and animal studies that detail the impact of maternal obesity on aspects of learning, memory, motivation, affective disorders, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorders, and neurodegeneration in the offspring. Epigenetic mechanisms that may contribute to this mother-child interaction are also discussed.

Keywords: cognitive function; epigenetics; high fat diet; maternal obesity; mental health; offspring brain.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Ng M., Fleming T., Robinson M., Thomson B., Graetz N., Margono C., Mullany E.C., Biryukov S., Abbafati C., Abera S.F., et al. Global, regional, and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980–2013: A systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2013. Lancet. 2014;384:766–781. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60460-8. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Heslehurst N., Rankin J., Wilkinson J.R., Summerbell C.D. A nationally representative study of maternal obesity in england, uk: Trends in incidence and demographic inequalities in 619 323 births, 1989–2007. Int. J. Obes. 2010;34:420–428. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2009.250. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kim S.Y., Dietz P.M., England L., Morrow B., Callaghan W.M. Trends in pre-pregnancy obesity in nine states, 1993–2003. Obesity. 2007;15:986–993. doi: 10.1038/oby.2007.621. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gregor L., Remington P.L., Lindberg S., Ehrenthal D. Prevalence of pre-pregnancy obesity, 2011–2014. WMJ. 2016;115:228–232. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lindberg S., Anderson C., Pillai P., Tandias A., Arndt B., Hanrahan L. Prevalence and predictors of unhealthy weight gain in pregnancy. WMJ. 2016;115:233–237. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources