C-section in overweight moms increases risk of obesity in kids through changes in babies' gut bacteria

Children delivered by C-section to overweight moms are five times more likely to be overweight or obese by the time they're three months old, according to new UAlberta study.

New York Times, February 2018 - 20 September 2018

Stylized Art of a woman on a Scale

Anita Kozyrskyj is a professor in Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Respirology, Pulmonary and Asthma.

Artwork by Natasia Designs

Overweight mothers are more likely to have overweight babies and the gut bacteria the babies inherit may in part be to blame, according to a study led by U of A professor of pediatrics Anita Kozyrskyj.

Published in JAMA Pediatrics and funded by AllerGen, Alberta Innovates and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the study reports that overweight mothers are more likely to have a caesarean section. Babies born by C-section to those mothers have different gut bacteria from those in babies born to normal-weight women and are more than five times as likely to be overweight.

There is no single probiotic that can undo changes in gut bacteria of infants after a C-section, says Kozyrskyj, and "if a C-section is unavoidable, there is no easy answer." But typically, she adds, "breastfeeding is effective in helping to prevent infants from becoming overweight."