Poor mental and physical health in pregnancy linked to infant sleep problems

October 3, 2019

Science Daily/Murdoch Childrens Research Institute

Severe and persistent infant sleep problems in the first year are linked to poor maternal mental and physical health during pregnancy, a new study by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute has found.

The study, led by Dr Fallon Cook, found that it's very common to experience difficulties with infant sleep at some point in the first year, with about 60 per cent of mothers reporting mild or fluctuating problems. But for 20 per cent of mothers their infants sleep problems are both persistent and severe during the first year.

"These mothers were more likely to have poorer mental and physical health during pregnancy in comparison to mothers of infants with no sleep problems," Dr Cook says.

The findings show that for some, infant sleep problems may have more to do with mother's wellbeing during pregnancy than with parenting style.

Until now it was unclear whether it was possible to predict which infants will have sleep problems. The current findings, along with other emerging research, suggest that severe and persistent infant sleep problems are linked somehow to mothers' wellbeing during pregnancy.

Dr Cook says this is an important finding because parents of sleep-disturbed infants often feel severely fatigued, depressed and anxious, and worry they are doing something to cause their infants sleep problems.

"Our findings suggest some infants may be predisposed to have sleep problems, despite parent's best efforts to help their infant sleep better," she says.

"Identifying and supporting mothers with poor mental and physical health during pregnancy is crucial. These mothers may benefit from more intensive support once the child is born.

"Parenting an infant who isn't sleeping well is extremely hard. It's important that parents seek help from their GP or child health nurse if feeling depressed, anxious or exhausted, and reach out to family, friends, and local parenting groups for additional support."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191003103511.htm

Fathers-to-be should avoid alcohol six months before conception

Parental alcohol consumption linked to raised risk of congenital heart disease

October 3, 2019

Science Daily/European Society of Cardiology

Aspiring parents should both avoid drinking alcohol prior to conception to protect against congenital heart defects, according to research published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

Drinking alcohol three months before pregnancy or during the first trimester was associated with a 44% raised risk of congenital heart disease for fathers and 16% for mothers, compared to not drinking. Binge drinking, defined as five or more drinks per sitting, was related to a 52% higher likelihood of these birth defects for men and 16% for women.

'Binge drinking by would-be parents is a high risk and dangerous behaviour that not only may increase the chance of their baby being born with a heart defect, but also greatly damages their own health,' said study author Dr Jiabi Qin, of Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China.

Dr Qin said the results suggest that when couples are trying for a baby, men should not consume alcohol for at least six months before fertilisation while women should stop alcohol one year before and avoid it while pregnant.

Congenital heart diseases are the most common birth defects, with approximately 1.35 million babies affected every year. These conditions can increase the likelihood of cardiovascular disease later life, even after surgical treatment, and are the main cause of perinatal death. Alcohol is a known teratogen and has been connected with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Around one in four children with FASD have congenital heart disease, indicating that alcohol might also be implicated in these disorders.

Previous studies investigating the link between alcohol and congenital heart disease have focused on prospective mothers, with inconclusive results. This is the first meta-analysis to examine the role of paternal alcohol drinking.

The researchers compiled the best data published between 1991 and 2019, which amounted to 55 studies including 41,747 babies with congenital heart disease and 297,587 without. The analysis showed a nonlinear dose-response relationship between parental alcohol drinking and congenital heart diseases.

Dr Qin said: 'We observed a gradually rising risk of congenital heart diseases as parental alcohol consumption increased. The relationship was not statistically significant at the lower quantities.'

Regarding specific defects, the study found that compared to abstinence, maternal drinking was correlated to a 20% greater risk of tetralogy of Fallot, a combination of four abnormalities in the heart's structure.

The authors noted that this was an observational study and does not prove a causal effect, nor does it prove that paternal drinking is more harmful to the fetal heart than maternal drinking. The data cannot be used to define a cut-off of alcohol consumption that might be considered safe.

Dr Qin said: 'The underlying mechanisms connecting parental alcohol and congenital heart diseases are uncertain and warrant further research. Although our analysis has limitations -- for example the type of alcohol was not recorded -- it does indicate that men and women planning a family should give up alcohol.'

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191003074846.htm

Seafood consumption during pregnancy may improve attention capacity in children

October 2, 2019

Science Daily/Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)

A new study highlights the importance of eating a diet rich in lean and fatty fish during the first months of pregnancy.

A team of scientists from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by "la Caixa," has studied the relationship between the consumption of various types of seafood during pregnancy and attention capacity in children at eight years of age. The results, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, show that eating a seafood-rich diet during early pregnancy is associated with better attention outcomes in children.

The study included 1,641 mother-child pairs from the INMA Environment and Childhood Project, a Spanish cohort study on the role of pollutants during pregnancy and their effects on children. Over the course of their pregnancies, the mothers completed numerous food-frequency questionnaires that assessed how often they ate more than a hundred different food items, including various types of seafood. Data on the children's dietary habits were also collected using the same questionnaire at one, five and eight years of age. At eight years of age, the children also completed the Attention Network Task (ANT), a computer-based neuropsychological test designed to assess attention function. The main ANT outcomes assessed by the researchers were the number of omission errors committed in relation to target stimuli and the speed of responses to stimuli. Both outcomes are commonly used as indicators of selective and sustained attention.

The study builds on earlier research that analysed children at five years of age. "The consumption of seafood during the first trimester of pregnancy had a greater effect on children's attention capacity than the consumption of seafood later in pregnancy or at five years of age, by which time some neurodevelopment processes have already been completed," commented Jordi Júlvez, researcher in the Childhood & Environment programme at ISGlobal and lead author of the study.

Brain development takes place mainly during pregnancy, through complex biological processes such as neuron formation, synaptogenesis and myelination. Essential nutrients such as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) play a fundamental role in these processes. "Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) are the main omega-3 PUFAs involved in neurological development, and seafood is the main source of both of them," added Júlvez.

Because these nutrients participate in the definition of foetal brain structure and function, they have a large impact on later neuropsychological development. Attention is a complex behaviour that all children must learn, since it precedes other crucial functions such as memory. "We focused on the attention function because attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder is common in school-age children," commented Jordi Sunyer, head of the Childhood & Environment programme at ISGlobal.

The study also assessed the differences between various types of fish and seafood: fatty fish, lean fish, canned tuna and shellfish. Children whose mothers ate a diet rich in various types of seafood scored very well on the attention tests, as did children of women with a diet rich only in fatty fish. However, scores were lower in children whose mothers relied on canned tuna or shellfish for their seafood intake.

The role of genetics in PUFA metabolism was one of the elements analysed in the study. "We observed differences in the effect of seafood on children's attention capacity as a function of genetic variations known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)," commented Júlvez. The findings suggest that some SNPs facilitate PUFA metabolism, thereby contributing to better attention outcomes, while others have a negative effect on PUFA metabolism. Seafood consumption was shown to have a compensatory effect in children with SNPs that hinder PUFA metabolism. "Children with, for example, the rs1260326 CC genotype -- which has been associated with lower PUFA levels -- had worse attention scores if their mothers had not eaten much seafood during pregnancy," commented Júlvez. "But their outcomes improved if their mothers consumed more seafood."

Despite the promising results of this study, the authors of previous research have reported a link between the consumption of fish during pregnancy and childhood obesity and increased blood pressure. Consequently, experts insist on the need for more research on this subject to determine exactly which species of fish and what quantities may be beneficial to fetal development.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191002181125.htm

Antidepressants linked to heightened pregnancy related diabetes risk

Venlafaxine and amitriptyline and longer course of treatment associated with greatest risks

October 1, 2019

Science Daily/BMJ

Taking antidepressants while expecting a baby is linked to a heightened risk of developing diabetes that is specifically related to pregnancy, known as gestational diabetes, finds research published in the online journal BMJ Open.

The risk was greatest among mums to be who were taking venlafaxine, a type of drug known as a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI), and amitriptyline, which belongs to an older class of antidepressant, known as tricyclics, the findings indicate.

Gestational diabetes affects up to one in five pregnant women worldwide. These pregnancies are prone to complications, such as overweight babies and prolonged labour due to the baby getting stuck in the birth canal.

The children of these pregnancies may also be more vulnerable to obesity and diabetes later on, while the mums are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Previous research looking at the potential link between antidepressant use and gestational diabetes risk has proved inconclusive and has been hampered by study design, say the researchers.

They drew on information from the Quebec Pregnancy Cohort, which incorporates three Canadian databases, and includes all pregnancies and children born in Quebec between 1998 and 2015.

Each case of gestational diabetes (20,905), identified after 20 weeks of pregnancy, was randomly matched with 10 unaffected pregnancies (209,050) of the same age and calendar year of delivery.

Antidepressant use was assessed using information on prescriptions filled for these drugs between the start of pregnancy and the diagnosis of gestational diabetes. In all, 9741 (just over 4%) of the mums took antidepressants, singly or combined.

These included citalopram, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, paroxetine and sertraline, which belong to a class of drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs for short; venlafaxine; and amitriptyline.

After taking account of potentially influential factors, such as the mum's age, welfare assistance, area of residence and other underlying conditions, taking antidepressants during pregnancy was associated with a heightened risk of developing gestational diabetes.

Taking any of these drugs was associated with a 19% heightened risk of being diagnosed with the condition compared with not taking antidepressants during pregnancy.

The risk was greatest for two antidepressant drugs, in particular: venlafaxine (27% heightened risk); and amitriptyline (52% heightened risk).

What's more, the risk increased, the longer certain types of antidepressants were taken, specifically SNRIs and tricyclics, singly or when combined.

Short term use was associated with a 15% heightened risk; medium term use was associated with a 17% heightened risk; and long term use with a 29% heightened risk.

When further analysis was done on a smaller group of women (21,395) who had been diagnosed with depression/anxiety before they became pregnant, the results were similar to those of the main analysis.

This is an observational study, and as such, can't establish cause. But there are some possible explanations for what they found, say the researchers.

This includes that antidepressants directly affect glucose metabolism, especially as serotonin is involved in this process. And one of the side effects of antidepressants is weight gain, a risk factor for diabetes.

But the pros and cons of taking antidepressants during pregnancy need to be weighed up carefully, caution the researchers, particularly for women whose depression is severe.

"The treatment of depression is a major concern and is challenging because depression is prevalent before and during pregnancy, and untreated depression can lead to relapse during pregnancy and in the [period immediately after birth]," they write.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191001184927.htm

Menopausal night sweats linked with cognitive dysfunction

New study suggests paradox of night sweats increasing sleep duration while impairing cognitive performance

September 24, 2019

Science Daily/The North American Menopause Society (NAMS)

Experts frequently tout the value of a good night's sleep. However, a new study casts doubt on the value of sleep time suggesting that women who experience night sweats are more vulnerable to cognitive dysfunction as their sleep duration increases. These paradoxical study results will be presented during The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) Annual Meeting in Chicago, September 25-28, 2019.

Previous studies have demonstrated the association between daytime hot flashes and worse memory performance. In this new study involving women with a history of breast cancer, however, researchers focused on night sweats and how they relate to total sleep time. Surprisingly, more frequent night sweats were associated with greater sleep duration. Even more ironic, however, was the finding that these same women experiencing night sweats became more vulnerable to prefrontal cortex deficits, including decreased attention and executive function, as their sleep duration increased. Total sleep time, however, was unrelated to memory performance.

Separately it was determined that daytime hot flashes had no impact on total sleep time.

"This work presents novel insights into the influence of menopause symptoms on cognitive performance among women with a history of breast cancer and raises the possibility that hot flash treatments could benefit cognition in these women through effects on sleep," says John Bark, lead author of the study from the behavioral neuroscience doctoral program at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

"Studies like this are valuable in helping healthcare providers develop effective treatment options for menopausal women complaining of cognitive decline as they focus on modifiable risk factors," says Dr. Stephanie Faubion, NAMS medical director.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190924080028.htm

Depression and binge-drinking more common among military partners

September 23, 2019

Science Daily/King's College London

New research from King's College London suggests that depression and binge-drinking are more common among the female partners of UK military personnel than among comparable women outside the military community.

Researchers from the King's Centre for Military Health Research at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) collected data from 405 women in military families with at least one child, representing around a third of the military population.

The researchers used a screening tool for depression, rather than a diagnosis from a psychiatrist, and women reporting frequent symptoms were considered to have probable depression. Drinking behaviours were also recorded through a self-reported screening tool.

7% of military partners met criteria for probable depression, compared to 3% of women from the general population

9.7% of military partners reported episodes of weekly, daily or almost daily binge-drinking, compared to 8.9% from the general population

After controlling for other factors linked to poor alcohol behaviours, the researchers found military partners were twice as likely to binge-drink as women in the general population.

Overall, military partners reported consuming alcohol less frequently than women in the general population but reported binge-drinking more often. Binge-drinking was significantly higher when families were separated for more than 2 months due to deployment.

Military families experience various unique challenges, such as frequently moving location and the stress and separation caused by deployment. The researchers say binge-drinking may reflect poor coping strategies used by military partners during the long absences of serving personnel from the family home.

Lead researcher Dr Rachael Gribble from the IoPPN says: 'While the majority of families cope well with the added pressures of military life, the additional challenges faced by military families may explain the additional mental health needs and higher rates of binge-drinking we found among military partners. More research is needed to help find out more about what contributes to depression and problematic drinking in this population.'

The researchers say that binge-drinking represents an important public health issue for the military community. They urge development of campaigns to reduce alcohol use in military families, suggesting that programmes which successfully tackle dangerous drinking among Service personnel could be extended to their partners.

Senior researcher Professor Nicola Fear from the IoPPN says: 'Our results indicate that healthcare professionals should be attuned to the impact military life can have on the mental health and wellbeing of family members. There are lots of support options available for military families out there, but these are not always easily accessible.'

This research was published in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology and is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Army Families Federation. It is the first UK-based study to look at the mental health and well-being of women in relationships with members of the UK Armed Forces.

A spokesperson for the Army Families Federation, the independent voice of Army families, said: 'Isolation, separation and mobility can all impact on Service families' mental health and emotional wellbeing. Research in these areas helps organisations working with Service families to better understand how they can be supported. We welcome the conclusion of this research by King's College London that available support could be better signposted for military partners.'

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190923213319.htm

Context may explain why dads are happier and less stressed than moms

September 23, 2019

Science Daily/Penn State

Dads are often happier, less stressed and less tired than moms when taking care of kids, and researchers say these differences may come down to how and when childcare activities are split between parents.

In a study led by Penn State, researchers looked at childcare through the lens of a "care context." Going beyond measuring how much time mothers and fathers spend taking care of their children, the researchers also looked at the type of childcare activity, when and where it took place, who was present, and how much care was involved.

Cadhla McDonnell, a doctoral candidate in sociology and demography at Penn State, said the results suggest that while fathers in general are much more involved in their children's lives now than in the past, parenting is still highly gendered.

"There are many types of activities that can be considered childcare, but some are more strenuous or less enjoyable than others," McDonnell said. "A family trip to the playground is going to affect someone differently than changing diapers in the middle of the night, for example. In our study, we tried to capture those variations and see if they're related to the differences we see between mothers' and fathers' moods."

According to the researchers, previous work has shown that mothers tend to be more tired, stressed and unhappy than fathers during caregiving. But sociodemographic characteristics alone could not explain some of these differences. The researchers were curious about whether taking a closer look at how childcare activities were divided between parents could help explain discrepancies between parents' moods.

The researchers used data from the American Time Use Survey collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. Data included information about 4,486 childcare activities, as well as who performed the activity and that person's corresponding mood.

Additionally, the researchers analyzed each activity through the care context, which included five dimensions. The first was "activity type," and included physical (basic needs like eating and sleeping), recreational (like play and sports), educational (helping with homework or meeting with teachers), and managerial (planning doctor visits or transporting children).

The remaining dimensions included when and where the activity took place, who was present during the activity, and how much time the activity took.

The researchers found that fathers' childcare activities were more likely to be recreational and take place on the weekend, while mothers' activities were more likely to involve an infant and fit into the category of "solo parenting," that is, parenting without a partner present.

Also, the researchers found that taking the context of childcare activities into account fully explained differences in mother and father happiness, and partially explained differences in stress. It did not explain differences in tiredness.

McDonnell said the study -- recently published in the Journal of Family Issues -- suggests that moms are generally more tired and stressed than dads, and that they also are doing more childcare activities that tend to produce more stress and less happiness. But it is still not clear why these differences exist.

"Our findings show that some aspects of parenting are more enjoyable than others and that the way childcare is distributed between mothers and fathers right now brings more emotional rewards for dads than for moms," McDonnell said. "But it's impossible to say from our data whether this is the result of personal choices or whether it's a reaction to outside forces like job demands."

Additionally, the researchers found that despite their differences, one thing that remained consistent between mothers and fathers was how meaningful they found childcare.

"Traditionally caregiving has been seen as more central to women's identities than it is to men's, and that would suggest that mothers might find caring for their children more meaningful than fathers do," McDonnell said. "But that's not the case -- mothers and fathers both found caring for children highly meaningful and there is no difference by gender."

McDonnell said that in the future, additional research could focus on how gendered caregiving may have additional impacts on parents' well being.

"We know from other research that parents tend to have lower life satisfaction than non-parents, and this is especially true for women," McDonnell said. "An interesting question could be how that's related to gendered caregiving. Why do mothers seem to take on childcare in contexts that are less emotionally rewarding? For couples, how can they share caregiving in a way that is equally rewarding for both partners? These are all important questions."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190923155026.htm

Even mother's mild depressive symptoms affect the child's emotional well-being

September 23, 2019

Science Daily/National Institute for Health and Welfare

According to recent research, even mild long-term depressive symptoms among mothers are connected with emotional problems among small children such as hyperactivity, aggressiveness and anxiety.

The study investigated how the depressive symptoms of both parents affected the child by the age of two and five.

The father's depressive symptoms affected the child's emotional problems only if the mother was depressed as well. The mother's symptoms, however, affected the child even if the father was not depressed.

Moderate depressive symptoms can be observed in over 20% of parents in Finland. Most serious symptoms are seen in less than 9% of mothers and around 2.5% of fathers.

"Depression among parents both during and after pregnancy not only affects the person suffering from depression but also has a long-term impact on the well-being of the newborn child. Even in cases of mild depression, it is important that the symptoms are identified and the parents are offered support as early as possible, if necessary already during the pregnancy," explains Visiting Researcher Johanna Pietikäinen from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).

"In families, depression experienced by the mother has a key impact on the child's well-being. In Finland, the maternity clinic system functions well, but attention should be paid to depressive symptoms among mothers over a longer period: from the pregnancy through to the end of the child's first year of age," she adds.

One parent's depression also puts the other at risk

The depression of one parent is a factor that can put the other parent at risk of depression as well. In addition, depressive symptoms among mothers and fathers are quite long-term: they can start already during pregnancy and continue past the child's first birthday.

"It is important to monitor the mental well-being of both parents during pregnancy and after the birth of the child, and if one parent shows symptoms of depression then the symptoms of the other parent should also be examined. Currently, however, fathers' psychological well-being is not necessarily covered by depression questionnaires in maternity clinics, for example," Pietikäinen points out.

Prior depression is the most significant risk factor

Long-term depression is an indication that the depression may have been experienced already before the pregnancy. Previous experience of depression was, in fact, one of the key risk factors for moderate or severe depressive symptoms.

Other significant risk factors included sleep deprivation during pregnancy, stress, anxiety and a bad family environment. These most prominent risk factors were predictors for depression among both mothers and fathers.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190923111249.htm

Childhood behavior linked to taking paracetamol in pregnancy

September 16, 2019

Science Daily/University of Bristol

A new study adds to evidence that links potential adverse effects of taking paracetamol (also known as acetaminophen) during pregnancy.

The research published today (Monday 16 September) in Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology examined whether there were any effects of taking paracetamol in mid-pregnancy and the behaviour of the offspring between the ages of 6 month and 11 years, with memory and IQ tested up until the age of 17. Paracetamol is commonly used to relieve pain during pregnancy and is recommended as the treatment of choice by the NHS.

Using questionnaire and school information from Bristol's Children of the 90s study researchers examined 14,000 children. When they were seven months pregnant 43 per cent of their mothers said they had taken paracetamol 'sometimes' or more often during the previous three months. Researchers examined results of the children's memory, IQ and pre-school development tests, temperament and behaviour measures.

They found an association between paracetamol intake and hyperactivity and attention problems as well as with other difficult behaviours with young children that were not accounted for by the reasons why the medication was taken or social factors. However, this was no longer the case by the time the children reached the end of primary school. Boys appeared to be more susceptible than girls to the possible behavioural effects of the drug.

The study was led by Professor Jean Golding OBE who also founded the University of Bristol's Children of the 90s study. She commented:

"Our findings add to a series of results concerning evidence of the possible adverse effects of taking paracetamol during pregnancy such as issues with asthma or behaviour in the offspring. It reinforces the advice that women should be cautious when taking medication during pregnancy and to seek medical advice where necessary.

"It is important that our findings are tested in other studies -- we were not in a position to show a causal link, rather an association between two outcomes. It would also be useful now to assess whether older children and adults are free of difficult behavioural problems if their mother had taken paracetamol." https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190916081451.htm

Exercise in pregnancy improves health of obese mothers by restoring their tissues

August 29, 2019

Science Daily/University of Cambridge

Exercise immediately prior to and during pregnancy restores key tissues in the body, making them better able to manage blood sugar levels and lowering the risk of long term health problems, suggests new research carried out in mice.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge, who led the study published today in the journal Physiological Reports, say the findings reinforce the importance of an active lifestyle when planning pregnancy.

In the UK, more than a half of all women of reproductive age and almost a third of pregnant women are overweight or obese. This is particularly concerning, as being overweight or obese during pregnancy increases the risk of complications in the mother, such as gestational diabetes, and predisposes both her and her infant to develop metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes in the years after pregnancy.

Exercise is known to improve how the body manages blood sugar levels and thereby reduce the risk of type-2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome in non-pregnant women. It also has positive effects prior to and during pregnancy, with beneficial outcomes for both mother and her child, preventing excessive gestational weight gain and the development of gestational diabetes, and the need for insulin use in women who have already developed gestational diabetes. However, little is known about the changes that exercise causes to the tissues of obese pregnant mother.

To answer this questions, researchers at the University of Cambridge fed mice a sugary, high fat diet such that they become obese and then the obese mice were exercised. The mice exercised on a treadmill for 20 minutes a day for at least a week before their pregnancy and then for 12.5 minutes a day until day 17 of the pregnancy (pregnancy lasts for around 20 days in mice).

Mice are a useful model for studying human disease as their biology and physiology have a number of important characteristics in common with those of humans, including showing metabolic changes with obesity/obesity-causing diets and in the female body during pregnancy.

The researchers found that the beneficial effects on metabolic health in obese mothers related to changes in how molecules and cells communicate in maternal tissues during pregnancy.

"A moderate level of exercise immediately before and then during pregnancy leads to important changes in different tissues of the obese mother, effectively making the tissues more like those seen in non-obese mothers," says Dr Amanda Sferruzzi-Perri, a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow from the Centre for Trophoblast Research in the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, who co-led the study.

"We believe these changes may explain how exercise improves the metabolism of the obese mother during pregnancy and, in turn, may prevent her babies from developing early signs of type 2 diabetes after birth."

The key organs of the mother that were affected by exercise were:

·      white adipose tissue -- the fatty tissue that stores lipids and can be found in different parts around the body, including beneath the skin and around internal organs;

·      skeletal muscle -- muscle tissue that uses glucose and fats for contraction and movement;

·      the liver -- the organ that stores, as well as syntheses lipids and glucose.

Exercise affected key signalling pathways -- the ways that molecules and cells within tissue communicate -- involved in responding to insulin (the hormone that stimulates glucose uptake by white adipose tissue and skeletal muscle), in storage and breakdown of lipids (fats found in the blood and tissue) and in growth and the synthesis of proteins.

White adipose tissue showed the greatest number of changes in response to exercise in the obese pregnant mouse, being restored to a state similar to that seen in the tissue of non-obese mothers. This suggests that insulin resistance of the mother's white adipose tissue may be the cause of poor glucose-insulin handling in obese pregnancies. The findings are different to that seen in non-pregnant animals, whereby exercise typically affects insulin signalling in the skeletal muscle.

In addition, the team's previous work showed that exercise improves sensitivity to insulin and glucose handling throughout the whole body in the obese mother. It also prevents the development of insulin resistance in the offspring of obese mothers after birth. Low insulin sensitivity/insulin resistance requires larger amounts of insulin to control blood glucose levels.

"Our findings reinforce the importance of having an active lifestyle and eating a healthy balanced diet when planning pregnancy and throughout for both the mother and her developing child," says co-lead Professor Susan Ozanne from the Wellcome Trust-Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science at the University of Cambridge.

"This is can be important in helping to reduce the risk of adverse health problems in the mother and of later health problems for her child."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190829214754.htm