Nutritional supplementation promotes healthy weight gain in offspring

Taking nutritional supplements before and throughout pregnancy puts children at lower risk of rapid weight gain and high body mass index (BMI), according to data from the NiPPeR trial.

NiPPeR included 1,729 women who were recruited before conception across sites in the UK, Singapore, and New Zealand. These women were randomly assigned to receive the nutritional intervention (myo-inositol, probiotics, and additional micronutrients) or the standard micronutrient supplement (control).

Data on weight and length were collected from multiple timepoints in the first 2 years of life. Differences in age and sex-standardized BMI at age 2 years (defined by WHO standards) and the change in weight from birth were calculated.

Of the women, 586 delivered at at least 24 weeks of gestation. A total of 576 children were included in the analysis.

At age 2 years, children of mothers who received the intervention were less likely to have a BMI of >95th percentile (9 percent vs 18 percent; adjusted risk ratio [RR], 0.51, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.31–0.82; p=0.006). Analysis was adjusted for study site, infant sex, parity, maternal smoking, maternal prepregnancy BMI, and gestational age.

Longitudinal data showed that compared with the control, the nutritional intervention was associated with a 24-percent reduced risk of experiencing rapid weight gain of >0.67 standard deviation (SD) in the first year of life for the offspring (21.9 percent vs 31.1 percent; adjusted RR, 0.76, 95 percent CI, 0.58–1.00; p=0.047).

Likewise, the nutritional intervention was linked to a lower risk of sustained weight gain of >1.34 SD in the first 2 years (7.7 percent vs 17.1 percent; adjusted RR, 0.55, 95 percent CI, 0.34–0.88; p=0.014).

Additional research with long-term follow-up is needed to evaluate the longevity of the observed benefits.