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Subscribe to RSSA new study suggests that a mother's weight during pregnancy could play a role in her child's development. NBC's Michelle Franzen reports.
Women who are obese when pregnant may have a higher risk of having a baby with autism, a new study indicates.
Researchers found that the risk of autism increased by nearly 70 percent when moms were obese during their pregnancies, while the risk of a having a baby with some other neurodevelopmental disorder doubled, according to the study published early online Monday in Pediatrics.
Milder versions of autism, such as Asperger's syndrome and related conditions, form a "spectrum" of autism-related disorders. In addition, impairments in any one of the autism-related cognitive skill areas are considered developmental delays.
To take a closer look at the impact of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure during pregnancy, the researchers compared medical histories of 315 typically developing children to those of 517 children with autism and 172 children with developmental disorders.
Moms with diabetes were slightly more likely to have a baby with autism, but the numbers weren’t large enough for the researchers to be sure that the association wasn’t just by chance. The association between a mom’s diabetes and some other neurodevelopmental disorder was stronger. In fact, diabetic moms were more than twice as likely to have a child later diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder.
Researchers have been looking for preventable factors that contribute to the rise in the number of children with autism, said Dr. Andrew W. Zimmerman, director of clinical trials at the Lurie Center for Autism at the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children who is also on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “It’s very suggestive that this might be a real factor,” Zimmerman said.
That doesn’t mean that every obese woman is going to have a child with autism, he added. “But it’s one of the many things that goes into increasing the risk.”
Zimmerman would like to see more research on the topic. “Hopefully a larger one yet will be able to show what the effect of gestational diabetes is,” he said. “That’s a bigger question since a lot of women who don’t have any sign of diabetes develop gestational diabetes.”
It's unclear whether diabetes or obesity is actually impacting the growth of the fetus, but it’s always possible that these women have something else in common, said the study’s lead author Paula Krakowiak, a Ph. D. candidate at the University of California, Davis. But, said Krakowiak, “we’re seeing a rise in the rates of obesity and diabetes as well as a rise in autism.”
Krakowiak and her colleagues don’t yet know how obesity and diabetes might impact babies’ brain development, but they have some theories.
A possible culprit is the inflammatory proteins produced by the fat cells of an obese mom. “These same proteins are involved in the normal development of the brain,” Krakowiak said. “When the level of those immunological markers is higher or lower than the normal range it might affect how the brain develops in an adverse way. And at least one type has been shown to be able to cross over the placenta to the fetus.”
It’s also possible that the higher levels of blood glucose in obese and diabetic women could have a negative impact on the developing brain, since glucose can also cross over to the fetus, Krakowiak said. High levels of glucose could cause the baby to produce more insulin and also to grow faster, she added.
“When they’re growing at a faster rate, they require more oxygen and if the mom doesn’t provide enough oxygen then that could also cause some problems with brain development,” Krakowiak said.
Typically, a woman is considered obese when she's about 35 pounds overweight or more, or has a body-mass index of 25, experts say.
Krakowiak and her colleagues didn’t have information on inflammatory markers or insulin resistance in the moms in this study. That’s a subject for future research, she said.
Until researchers know more, obese moms might want to take the new findings as another reason to lose weight, Krakowiak said.
“That’s the safest message,” she added. “It doesn’t hurt anybody to lose weight and it comes with other benefits to the mom. So losing weight not only will help you, but it also might potentially help your child to be healthier.”
Reuters contributed to this report
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Outgrowing autism? Study looks at why some kids 'bloom'
Families of kids with autism earn less
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I am sooooo frickin' pissed!!! Ever notice they always blame the Mother! I was of healthy weight when I was pregnant with my child. No alcohol and not even a soda passed through my lips. I made sure to take my prenatal vitamins and to have a balanced diet (absolutely no junk food). The government and big business are one of the same .... greedy b*st*ards!!! They would like to point the finger the other way. They are ALL about the money, honey! Another thing I noticed is that they are busy like beavers changing the criteria for "autism." It all boils down to the MONEY. Why not get busy finding ways to help people with these disabilites and/or perhaps get busy figuring out how to stamp out autism in the first place? Tell you why: It's ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!
To Xina the Awesome: You are WRONG! The government is very much AWARE of what they are doing - and stepping up vaccines for EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY. Read and learn:(and this is from just ONE source)
In the 1980s, autism rates were estimated at only six in 10,000 children. Today one in 150 children is autistic, though in some areas autism affects closer to one in 50 children. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has acknowledged that thimerosal can be a neurotoxin (knowing very well that mercury is a neurotoxin), and in 2004 stated that thimerosal-containing vaccines were associated with autism.
It is a common myth today that the vaccines administered to children no longer contain the toxic additive thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative linked to causing permanent neurological damage. But a recent federal case involving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has revealed that, contrary to this widely-held belief, thimerosal is actually still present in many batch vaccines, including in the annual influenza vaccine that is now administered to children as young as six months old.
And the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the FDA have continued to provide dubious and misleading information on the subject, which the mainstream media has been complicit in spreading over the years.
But the FDA explains, in no uncertain terms, directly on its website that thimerosal is still added to certain vaccines. For this reason alone, it is crucial that parents who choose to vaccinate their children ask for an
ingredients list for each and every vaccine before allowing them to be administered to their children.
Another myth often spread by thimerosal advocates claims that the ethylmercury compounds that compose roughly 50 percent of the preservative are not actually harmful because they are different from the type found in a can of tuna. But a comprehensive review conducted by Dr. Paul G. King has proven otherwise, showing that ethylmercury is first metabolized by the body into toxic methylmercury, which is then metabolized into inorganic mercury. Both methylmercury and inorganic mercury are listed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as toxic substances responsible for causing neurological problems, brain disorders, nervous system illnesses, gastrointestinal problems, kidney failure, respiratory illness, and death.
The above statements excerpted from various articles provided by Natural News.
Stop the lies and get to the truth! One out of every four individuals believe that autism is caused by vaccines. As the mother of a child that had autism and notice I mentioned "HAD," spirulina is what reverse the signs of autism. Spirulina is known as a toxic eliminator along with offering a natural food source of vitamin A. It is the only plant source that offers colostrum. To learn more, go to google.com and type the following in the search box:
Norfolk Examiner Pervasive developmental disorder
The fact remains that approximately 1 in 78 kids are born with autism
So we better get our heads out of our asses before it becomes 1 in 2
Next thing you know it becomes all kids and then presto, the end of mankind
We pretty much have to look at everything and the truth sometimes hurt
Not aguing with you, but one truth is that Autism is most probably not one disease or syndrome. Currently it is a catch all diagnosis for a wide variety of symptoms that Modern Medicine does not understand.
Neal
I agree, which almost makes it worse
And it's not 1 in 78 women is obese, it's more like 1 in 3. So this study does not hold water.
Yus
Approximately 1 in 78 kids born with autism
Approximately 2 in 3 adults that are obese
By the way, I'm not defending the study per se
Clearly, obesity is a serious health problem for the mother and her offspring. Obesity is always a problem for the person who is obese. They will basically live a less happy life. But then their is the science. US Science has entered a period of corruption, dishonestly, and incompetence. A recent study of over 50 cancer studies has shown that only 25% of the results could be repeated! That means that 75% of all medical studies might be junk science! That means your tax dollars for science are being wasted at the rate of 75% in order to create corrupt payouts to politicians and their friends. Why hasn't the media picked up this story? Because, the media has hyped the 75%! The media has become part of the problem of science. Journalists are now barely qualified for 3rd grade earth science. Anything with statistics is well beyond their basic knowledge. Journalists are now probably the least educated profession.
I was thinking about Jenny McCarty's son having autism and her beliefs it came from the vaccinations. Perhaps or perhaps it came from poisoning from her breast implants ( sipping silicone through the membrane). If she had the fluid ones, could be some toxicity from the membrane itself. Who knows how all the crap people put into their bodies may affect their babies ? the pesticides, herbicides etc.. used in households and everywhere else. I doubt she went organic when she got pregnant. What about her life style ? toxic make-up , hair coloring ? as many kids we see with autism, it seems to be a risk of the times....and again our population is exploding....the odds are growing.
Well, that would kind of explain the explosion in autism the past thirty years, as our waistlines have exploded as well.
Not to negate the fact we all need to take better car of our health. Well, like me, some of us do. Some are doing a good job at it. But with all this talk about body image and obesity and the war on fat people. It is kinda silly that we cannot even agree on the best way to determine obesity.Face it last week it was the article that we are fatter than we thought and BMI needed to be adjusted or done away with. Based on the new assumption people who where athletic with thick builds would be over weight and yada yada. Now being fat not only put you health and your unborn's health at risk of going full term. We now have a link to autism. Great.
When I read things like this it makes me think of the old cigarette ads from the 40' and 50's. One even proclained doctors preferred their brand than any other. Then their is one about how medical studies proved that thier brand wasn't linked to all the other medical conditions the other brands were linked too.
I also love how they always mention in these articles that more research is needed. Next they will tell us we cannot drink the water and kelp is the wonder food. Oh...wait.... thay already did that. I am with Tim McGraw - Who are They?
Ok, I have an autistic son and I've done lots and lots and lots of research. Not to mention I live with my son everyday and I know our history. I think this article is ridiculous!!!! No one knows yet what causes autism. While we are all desperate for a cause and a cure, articles like this annoy me! Just trying to get people to jump on your band-wagon and point a finger at someone. So, how do they explain children who have autism and their mom is not obese????? Or how do they explain one child being autistic and one being typically developing??? Stop wasting time and find some useful information!!!
Hang in there autism mom we support you. And I would like to say I am sorry for the idiots that try to blame mothers when they don't know what truly is the cause of any illness. But know just because someone gets an article published in the media doesn't mean any of us believe it. Keep doing the best you can for your child and know that we believe in you.
Zina the Awesome (not), Thimerosol (a.k.a. mercury) is STILL an adjuvant used in vaccines. I don't know where you got the idea that "they" stopped adding it but nothing could be farther from the truth. A child who decades ago got 10 vaccines, now gets 29 during the same time period and with each shot gets pumped FULL of mercury. Explain how perfectly healthy babies suddenly turn autistic - RIGHT AFTER A SHOT. Don't believe the b.s. promulgated by the popular (mainstream) media because Big Pharma PAYS them LOTS of money in ADVERTISING!
I would like to know who in the world comes up with these studies. Just another thing to cause fear in people. I know several women with autistic children and all of these women are of normal to slightly underweight for their height and were before, during, and after their pregnancies. The simple truth is that 99.9% of these conditions autism, ADHD etc are caused by all the chemicals injected into our food system mostly without our knowledge. The government needs to come clean about what they have and our doing to our bodies.
And why would they be worried about my child? My husband and I have paid for the therapies and the years of tutoring out of our pockets. I had to fight at the school district to get her what she minimally needed at school. I have even tutored her personally through college. I ended up staying at home (and luckily I could because my husband sacrified by working a lot of overtime) because I knew that she would NOT get "quality" had I not. Yes, she is high-functioning and pulled a very good GPA at college, but that does not mean that she is any less "autistic." The thing is that we have taken time to work with her. I had to ultimately decide between my job/career and her well being. I hurt for the other parents who have this weight to bear. Yes, it would seem that my family and I are the "lucky" ones ... but, not really, because the prejudice and ignorance is out there and being constantly fed by ridiculous articles such as this one above. So .... when you folks make these feeble studies and write these articles, put that in your pipe and smoke it. You really should not write about something that you absolutely know NOTHING about!
Still no one real cause. Thin mothers have autistic children. Before vaccines mothers had autistic children. Before GM foods mothers has autistic children. Before pesticides mothers had autistic children. All the studies and anecdotal evidence are trying to find the single cause of Autism, but Autism is not a single disease/syndrome. Given the widely varying symptoms ascribed to it, Autism the single disease must have thousands of causes. Better understanding of what is happening in these children will lead to the break up of the giant Autism basket into tens, hundreds or even thousands of diseases/syndromes which will lead to better defined studies to find causes. At the moment, we might as well be alchemists by trying to find a single cause to this amorphic problem.
This actually explains a lot.
I also had a vaccination, and my mother said that I was completely different after that shot. As in by the time all was done and we headed home I was definitely not normal.
This double-whammy leads to a high enough risk to leave me with high-functioning autism.
you can write and type here with enough coherence i think you can take yourself out of that group. if anything, you're just plain weird.
Wow. Obviously Yus here doesn't understand Autism.
That's "WOULD NOT" get "quality" had I not.
If that association were true than at the minimum 1/5th to 1/3rd of all children born are supposed to be autistic to mirror the population of women who are obese. The fact that not all babies born to obese mother (in fact much less than 50%) are autistic also means the obesity itself is perhaps not a factor. Furthermore an obese mom and her baby would be a super easy target for just the average joe in general to make that correlation in their own heads but the truth is, in all over the world throughout all histories this is the first time i heard someone ever suggested obesity is linked to autism. Considering all the thoughts that go into every mind that had ever pondered this situation, though unscientific, I found it very unlikely this has never been brought up even as anecdotal urban myth.
C'mon, enough with the risk factor studies. Just admit that we're being poisoned by a cocktail of toxic chemicals coating the food we eat, the medicine we take and sprayed on the clothes we wear. Imported products are most suspect. Most imported food and medicine are very poorly regulated and do not meet US safety standards.
The FDA only catches about 5% of the bad stuff which means a lot of substandard products are getting into the US and reaching American consumers. You can read the FDA's import refusal reports on line. Just go to the FDA web site and search "Import Refusal Reports' Just amazing the amount of toxic and adulterrated garbage that is being imported into the US on a daily basis. Counterfeit drugs are also a huge problem. The US supply chain is not secure and the FDA does not have the manpower to control the flow.
Spare us these correlative studies and stop trying to dodge the real issue. These are just diversions. Most parents are not buying it.
That's right divert your attention elsewhere, this has always worked in the past. Don't be fooled, obesity is another way to divert your attention - "bull"! Lower income? Another "bull". Autism does not discriminate! Fact is when these children were given their shots at a young age, and those shots held mercury for longer shelf life - those shots affected and infected those little bodies.
Everything now is being blamed on weight. It's the new fashion thing in medicine and scapegoating. Every mother I know with an autistic child is quite thin.
Lots of money is being spent on these useless studies. Money is better spent helping families with autistic children and programs that actually help real people autistic children. When autistic children become adults, there is a great need.
That is so true, this article reeks with fat-hating campaign all over it. Though as much as I do not encourage obesity, like you I did not see a group of fat women standing behind Jenny McCarthy throughout her much maligned campaign. If anything I always see that most fat women have equally chubby cute healthy babies which makes me wonder if the fat is in fact a protective effect. In fact for most of the world throughout histories of all culture, a tradition of fattening of mother-to-be is much celebrated and desired. It is only in this country that the doctors actually discourage pregnant moms from gaining too much weight, but I accept that since they fortify their patients with vitamin supplements with the end result still a healthy baby and less the complications of overweight delivery (both from mom and baby side).
Decades ago, I gained over 50 pounds with both my children. I ate only healthy foods, etc. and did my best to give my children a healthy start in life. Thank Almighty God, they were born healthy and continue to be healthy. Vaccines 40+ years ago were kept to a minimum, unlike today. We don't get ANY type of shot and we're all healthy; not even a sniffle. Being obese isn't healthy for ANY part of a woman's body, but causing autism in her child? Puh-leez! More obfuscating and prevaricating on the part of Big Pharma...
Really!? what a load of fertilizer. 131 when pregnant with my child who is borderline autistic and 176 with my other child who is advanced....both kids are brilliant one can just articulate thoughts with greater ease.
Risk isn't the same thing as certainty.
If 176 was obese for you, then it's possible you just provided more positive evidence for the study, depending on the actual reason for the correlation they found. Just to speculate, maybe the fact that you ended up obese means you have some genetic disposition for both obesity and having an autistic child. Maybe while not obese at 131, you consumed a diet similar to other obese people, which could also be part of the reason you ended up obese. I'm just spit balling and not asserting any of these claims, just trying to provide examples of why you can't jump to conclusions. In fact, a good way to summarize the history of our move toward scientific reason might be we developed the ethic of not jumping to conclusions.
This association is much easier to connect than vaccination, the fact that the vaccination myth is now debunked makes this even much less likely to be true. Keep looking folks.
MSNBC along with the other cable networks and major news medians have too much of a vested interest with pharmaceutical advertising. What won't be reproted is vaccine administration where the preservatives are filled with the protein from goat eggs, aluminum, and antifreeze that goes into an infant's system whose mitochondria is succeptible will have a high likelihood of contracting autism. Over the years, the CDC has been more than sloppy on this and even admitted on several occasions unwittingly there is "evidence of harm" with vaccines and a link to autism. Naturally, they failed at covering it up. I think more questions should be asked on the regularity of vaccine administration along with what goes in our vaccines rather than linking it to obesity or praising how we've come far along on early interventions and diagnoses for autism.
Obese moms may be more likely to have autistic child, study suggests.
This is not a direct link from obesity to autism, or even a conclusive study. There could be a million reasons why obesity correlates to autism. If autism is linked to something bad in a poor diet, well obese mothers certainly would pass more of that to their children. Chemical and metabolic changes in obese mothers could help trigger something that is also triggered by other factors. The possibilities for correlation are endless, and this is the reason for the scientific method.
But if you are obese, and you want to have a child, you have a moral obligation to attempt to do something about it. There are plenty of other reasons why a new mother would want to do something about her obesity. First, you want to be healthy to raise your child, and there is no question that obesity is far from the optimal condition for health. Also, you want to be a good example, and we see time and time again how the habits of obese people are passed on to their children.
But people don't like to hear that they have a responsibility to control their behavior, especially when it challenges their self image of being such a caring responsible parent by actually asking them to live up to that self image. So you'll see a lot of anger and references to vaccines, even when the potential for harm from fear-mongering regarding vaccines is so obvious. Plus you're asking them to actually do something that's hard.
Bill, there are so many people, men and women, who have no morals we would recognize, who have children for many reasons other than the children themselve, who could care less about being any kind of example and want someone else to be responsible for their behavior that I fear for the continued existence of this country. It isn't that they don't like to hear about their responsibilities, it is that they simply edit any mention of this out of their hearing. You can talk to them until you are blue in the face and they simply will not hear you.
We dont know what causes every single thing, that's a given. What we do know of course if that being fat is a health risk for us, others, the companies we work for, etc.
FYI for "cat lover"--Steve's wife is NOT obese at 5.0 ft and 135 lbs. Check your BMI calculator--she would barely be considered overweight--actually she would not be considered overweight if it weren't for our airbrushed, fashion magazine propoganda that we have all adopted as reality.