Childhood obesity is linked to weight gain during pregnancy, US study finds

The likelihood of a child becoming obese is linked to the amount of weight that the mother gained during pregnancy, a study has concluded.

The researchers, from Boston Children’s Hospital, Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, and Princeton University, wanted to find out whether childhood obesity was due just to conditions during pregnancy (that influence birth weight) or whether other factors shared by mother and child (such as diet and genes) had a role.

They combined two large databases of …