More Kids Mean More
Weight Gain for Mom, Dad

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The more children you have, the more likely you are to be obese, whether you are a mother or a father, researchers said.

And, at least among mothers, the risk of developing diabetes, high levels of fat in the blood and heart disease appears to climb with every additional baby born to the family.

The relationship between the number of children and the risk of heart disease in both mothers and fathers forms a "J" shaped curve: the chances of heart disease appear lowest in parents of two children, then rise as the number of children increases or decreases.

"These results reinforce the need to encourage mothers and fathers of several children to maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle which may reduce the chances of developing obesity and (heart disease) in later life," study author Dr. Debbie A. Lawlor said in a statement.

The current study findings are based on information from 4,286 women and 4,252 men living in 24 towns in the UK. All study participants were between 60 and 79 years old.

The authors, led by Lawlor of the University of Bristol, report their findings in Monday's rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Lawlor and her colleagues found that the more children a mother or father had, the more likely the parents were to have a high waist-to-hip size ratio, as well as a high body mass index, a measure of obesity that factors height into weight.

In addition, once families included two children, the addition of every new child increased the risk of heart disease among mothers by 30%, and among fathers by 12%.

However, once the researchers removed the influence of obesity and other risk factors for heart disease from this relationship, the risk of heart disease remained only slightly higher among mothers with many children, and disappeared in fathers.

"Parents of large families tend to be poorer and also have less healthy lifestyles--which explains some of their increased (heart disease) risk," Lawlor explained.

In terms of why the hearts of mothers and fathers could react differently to large families, Lawlor and her colleagues suggest that the increased risk of heart disease among women could be a result of numerous pregnancies.

Experts theorize that each time a woman gives birth, the level of estrogen in her body decreases. This trend may explain why women who have numerous pregnancies are less likely to develop breast cancer, which can rely on estrogen to thrive.

Alternatively, during pregnancy women can develop insulin resistance, meaning their bodies become less sensitive to the effects of insulin. This condition can precede diabetes. Perhaps the more pregnancies a woman has, the more likely she is to develop such long-term metabolic problems that increase her risk of heart disease, they write.

In terms of why fewer than two children per family ups risk among mothers and fathers, Lawlor and her colleagues suggest that people with few children may be more likely to be in relatively poor health.

For instance, women who develop polycystic ovary syndrome often have both fertility problems and risk factors for heart disease, they note.

SOURCE: Circulation 2003;107.

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