Study: Maternal Obesity May Increase Risk for ADHD in Offspring
What causes ADHD? Genetics and environment play a part, as do prenatal factors such as maternal obesity, according to a large new study that found women who were obese during pregnancy were twice as likely to report ADHD in their offspring.
2 Comments: Study: Maternal Obesity May Increase Risk for ADHD in Offspring
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Hi. I’m a longtime fat rights activist, author, speaker.
Has anyone here considered the eugenics-y nature of this sort of advice? Have you bothered to look at the comprehensive data on weight-loss methods? (Quick hint: Nearly everyone can lose weight. Nearly everyone will gain it all back. Up to 2/3 of people will gain back more than they lost. People who repeatedly lose and regain weight tend to have more health problems and shorter lifespan. See Mann and Tomiyama’s meta-analysis for Medicare.) So the advice to lose weight before having children, really? It’s not a good look. It pretty much sounds like you’re telling fat people not to have children.
Also, researchers need to be reminded that correlation does not and cannot prove causation.
Readers who feel an urge to jump to blaming and shaming fat people who have children with ADHD need to stop. Just stop. It’s not helpful. You’re just indulging your urge to bully people. (Really, it’s never for our own good.)
I just want to comment that adults with ADHD who aren’t medicated have a 70% higher chance of being overweight or obese so I’d be careful to blame being overweight as a “cause” of ADHD. It is mainly a genetic disorder after all. Here’s the meta-analysis I’m citing. Cortese, S., Moreira-Maia, C. R., St. Fleur, D., Morcillo-Penalver, C., Rohde, L.A. & Faraone, S.V.
(2016). Association between ADHD and obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Retrieved from
https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ajp.2015.15020266