The new prospective cohort study finds that low vitamin B6 and impaired folate levels were associated with low birth weights (LBWs) in the south Indian pregnant women studied.
The new prospective cohort study finds that low vitamin B6 and impaired folate levels were associated with low birth weights (LBWs) in the south Indian pregnant women studied.
The Hindu on Wednesday.
The study found that the rate of C-section was 43.4% (26.5% emergency, 16.9% elective) among the 638 mothers. While 14.9% of the overall infants were overweight at one year of age, among the 108 babies delivered by elective C-section, 25% became overweight.
“Babies delivered by elective C-section had 2.44 times higher risk of being overweight compared to those born by vaginal delivery. However, no such association was found for emergency C-section,” explained Deepa R., researcher from IIPH, who is the co-author of the study.
According to the study, one exposure in the first 1,000 days that has been associated with excess infant weight gain and childhood overweight and obesity is C-section delivery. While several mechanisms may explain this association, the leading hypothesis is that interruption of mother-to-newborn microbiota transfer drives the association of C-section with overweight and obesity. Consistent with this hypothesis, studies have found th