Overeating when pregnant and lactating spur similar eating behavior to fetus throughout life

21 Mar 2023 — Being overweight or obese while pregnant and nursing might lead to the child overeating as an adult, as overnutrition causes developing brains to crave unhealthy foods, which might lead to diet-induced obesity and diabetes, finds a study from Rutgers University, New Jersey, US. 

“People born to overweight or obese mothers tend to be heavier in adulthood than people born to leaner mothers and experiments like this suggest that the explanation goes beyond environmental factors such as learning unhealthy eating habits in childhood,” says Mark Rossi, senior author of the study and a professor of psychiatry at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.