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
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2025 Aug;81(2):355-366.
doi: 10.1002/jpn3.70098. Epub 2025 Jun 9.

Maternal diet and gestational diabetes mellitus modestly influence children's growth during their first 24 months

Lotta Saros  1 , Tero Vahlberg  2 , Ella Koivuniemi  1   3 , Noora Houttu  1 , Kristiina Tertti  4 , Nitin Shivappa  5 , James R Hébert  5   6 , Harri Niinikoski  1   7 , Kirsi Laitinen  1   3
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Maternal diet and gestational diabetes mellitus modestly influence children's growth during their first 24 months

Lotta Saros et al. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2025 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate whether diet and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) during pregnancy influence children's growth during their first 24 months.

Methods: Growth data of children (n = 378) of women with overweight/obesity were obtained from clinic records (birth, 3, 6, 12 and 24 months), and variables (standard deviation scores (SDS) or percentages) were calculated based on Finnish growth charts. Body composition was measured by air displacement plethysmography (n = 73, 24 months). Diet was assessed (diet quality index, nutrient intakes and diet inflammatory index (DII®)) in early and late pregnancy. GDM was determined by an oral glucose tolerance test.

Results: A good dietary quality in early pregnancy associated positively with the children's height at each time point (adj. mean difference range = 0.28-0.30 SDS, p < 0.05) and head circumference at 12 and 24 months (adj. mean difference range = 0.38-0.42 SDS, p < 0.05). A good dietary quality in late pregnancy associated with a lower fat mass in children (adj. mean difference = -0.69, p < 0.05). A higher DII was correlated with a higher weight at 24 months but a reduced height at each time point (adj. p < 0.05). GDM associated negatively with the children's head circumference at birth and 6 months (adj. mean difference range = -0.43 to [-0.22] SDS, p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Consuming a good quality diet during pregnancy associated with a greater infantile height and head circumference but a lower adiposity in 2-year-old children. GDM may lead to a slightly smaller head circumference in early infancy. Mothers with overweight or obesity could support their children's growth by consuming a good quality diet, with low inflammatory potential during pregnancy.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01922791, 14 August 2013.

Keywords: adiposity; head circumference; height; maternal diabetes; nutrition; offspring.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Dr. James R. Hébert discloses that he owns controlling interest in Connecting Health Innovations LLC (CHI), a company that has licensed the right to his invention of the dietary inflammatory index (DII®) from the University of South Carolina to develop computer and smartphone applications for patient counselling and dietary intervention in clinical settings. CHI owns exclusive rights to the energy‐adjusted DII (E‐DII™). The subject matter of this paper has no direct bearing on that work, nor has any CHI‐related activity exerted any influence on this project. The remaining authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of the present study. At least one available growth measure was available from 378 children during the study period (24 months).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Di Cesare M, Bentham J, Stevens GA, et al. Trends in adult body‐mass index in 200 countries from 1975 to 2014: a pooled analysis of 1698 population‐based measurement studies with 19.2 million participants. Lancet. 2016;387:1377‐1396. 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30054-X - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang H, Li N, Chivese T, et al. IDF Diabetes Atlas: estimation of global and regional gestational diabetes mellitus prevalence for 2021 by International Association of Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Group's Criteria. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2022;183:109050. 10.1016/j.diabres.2021.109050 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hu J, Liu Y, Wei X, et al. Association of gestational diabetes mellitus with offspring weight status across infancy: a prospective birth cohort study in China. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2021;21:21. 10.1186/S12884-020-03494-7 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hu Z, Tylavsky FA, Han JC, et al. Maternal metabolic factors during pregnancy predict early childhood growth trajectories and obesity risk: the CANDLE Study. Int J Obes. 2019;43:1914‐1922. 10.1038/S41366-019-0326-Z - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bider‐Canfield Z, Martinez MP, Wang X, et al. Maternal obesity, gestational diabetes, breastfeeding and childhood overweight at age 2 years. Pediatr Obes. 2017;12:171‐178. 10.1111/IJPO.12125 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

Associated data