Mother's weight increases the risk of birth defects

Risk of birth defects increases with the mother's weight. Researchers tracked 1.2 million births, and discovered that baby's risk of having birth defect increases as mother's weight goes up.

Researchers analysed data on births between 2001 and 2014, they discovered that being overweight increased the risk of birth defects including heart problems, defects of the limbs, genital problems, urinary issues, digestive problems and malformed nervous systems.

According to pediatricians, risks of any major congenital malformation and several subgroups of organ specific malformations progressively increased with maternal overweight. Women
of reproductive age should adopt a healthy lifestyle and obtain a normal body weight before conception.

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Fever in pregnancy increases risk of autism

Fever during pregnancy may raise the risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the child. The effect was high in the second trimester, raising odds for ASD by 40 percent.

Risk of an ASD was increased by over 300 percent for the children of women reporting three or more fevers after four months of pregnancy.

The researchers followed 95,754 children born between 1999 and 2009, including 583 cases of ASD identified in Norway through the Autism Birth Cohort (ABC) Study.

Mothers of 15,701 children (16 percent) reported fever in one or more four-week intervals throughout pregnancy, similar to rates reported in the U.S. ASD risk was increased by 34 percent when mothers reported fever at any time during pregnancy, and by 40 percent in the second trimester.

The risk increased in a dose-dependent fashion from 1.3-fold with one or two fever episodes after the twelfth prenatal week to 3.12-fold with three or more.

Gestational maternal infection and innate immune responses to infection in the onset of  pregnancy can increase some cases of autism spectrum disorder.

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Breastfeeding reduces risk of endometrial cancer

Women who breastfeed their babies for the recommended six months may lower their risk of developing endometrial cancer.

Endometrial cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women in high-income countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia.

The World Health Organization recommends that women exclusively breastfeed for the first six months, then continue breastfeeding even after beginning to introduce solid foods.

The researchers analyzed pooled data from studies participating in the Epidemiology of Endometrial Cancer Consortium, including 10 from the United States and others from Canada, Europe, China and Australia.

They looked at more than 26,000 women who had ever had a child, whether they breastfed, and for how long. This included about 9,000 women with endometrial cancer.

After accounting for other factors that can influence endometrial cancer risk, including age, race, education, oral contraceptive use, menopausal status, years since last pregnancy and body mass index (BMI), researchers found the apparent protective effect of breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding hindered the growth of endometrial cancer because estrogen hormone is suppressed during breastfeeding.

Father's lifestyle and diet affect the cognitive skills of his offspring

Scientists at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Disease have shown that if male rodents eat foods rich in vitamin B12, methionine and folic acid, their offspring will not perform well in memory test.

Child development is also affected by father's diet and lifestyle: if male rodents eat food rich in fats, their offspring may become diabetic.

Another group of rodents was given balanced diet, mated with female mice, their offspring was examined and their is clear difference between rodents that were fed with balanced diet and those fed with methyl donor-rich diet.

This shows that mother's diet is not the only cause of abnormality in offspring, paternal diet can affect learning skills in offspring.