Healthy diet and exercise during pregnancy could lead to healthier children, study finds 懷孕期間健康飲食和運動可能會使孩子更健康

News Release 11-Sep-2020

King’s College London

Research News

New research shows improving the lifestyle of women with obesity during pregnancy could mean long-term cardiovascular benefits for their children.

The study, led by King’s College London and supported by the British Heart Foundation and Tommy’s charity, examined how an antenatal diet and physical activity intervention in pregnant women with obesity could positively influence the health of the women and their children three years after giving birth.

The UPBEAT trial is a randomised controlled trial which aims to improve the diet and physical activity of obese pregnant women across the UK. Women who were given a diet and exercise intervention were compared to women in a control group, who made no changes to their lifestyle during pregnancy.

Follow-up examinations three years after birth showed that the children born to the intervention arm of the trial had a lower resting heart rate of -5 bpm than children treated with standard care. A higher resting heart rate in adults is associated with hypertension and cardiovascular dysfunction.

The study also showed that mothers in the intervention arm maintained a healthier diet three years after birth.

While women reported lower glycaemic load, maternal energy and saturated fatty acids intake, and higher protein intake three years after delivery, there were no differences in self-reported physical activity or in measures of body composition.

Lead author Kathryn Dalrymple from King’s College London said: “This research shows that an lifestyle intervention in pregnant women, which focused on improving diet and increasing physical activity, is associated with improved cardiovascular function in the child at three-years of age and a sustained improvement in the mothers diet, three years after the intervention finished. These findings are very exciting as they add to the evidence that pregnancy is a window of opportunity to promote positive health and lifestyle changes which benefit the mother and her child.”

Senior author Professor Lucilla Poston, Tommy’s Chair for Maternal and Fetal Health, said: “Obesity in pregnancy is a major problem because it can increase the risk of complications in pregnancy as well as affecting the longer-term health of the child. This study strengthens my resolve to highlight just how important it is that we give children a healthy start in life.”

Tommy’s Research and Policy Director, Lizzie D’Angelo, said: “Pregnancy can be higher risk for women who are obese, but trying to lose lots of weight while pregnant is not advised, so our research focuses on finding new ways to make pregnancy safer for these families. It’s very reassuring to see that our researchers have been able to improve mothers’ diets and children’s heart health in the long term, helping to give these babies the best start in life.”

Tracy Parker, Senior Dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Keeping physically active and maintaining a balanced diet are both important ways of keeping our hearts healthy. This research shows that for pregnant women, the benefits don’t end there. A healthy diet before, during and after pregnancy can have positive long-term health benefits for both mother and child.”

The team of researchers will follow-up these children again at 8-10 years of age to see if this improvement in cardiovascular function is maintained through childhood.

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新的研究表明，改善孕婦肥胖症患者的生活方式可能意味著對孩子的長期心血管益處。

這項由倫敦金學院（King’s College London）領導，英國心臟基金會（British Heart Foundation）和湯米（Tommy）慈善組織支持的研究，研究了肥胖孕婦的產前飲食和體育鍛煉干預措施如何對分娩後三年的婦女及其子女的健康產生積極影響。

UPBEAT試驗是一項隨機對照試驗，旨在改善全英國肥胖孕婦的飲食和身體活動。將接受飲食和運動干預的婦女與對照組的婦女進行比較，對照組在懷孕期間的生活方式沒有改變。

出生後三年的隨訪檢查顯示，該試驗的干預臂所生的患兒靜息心率低於-5 bpm，優於接受標準護理的患兒。成人較高的靜息心率與高血壓和心血管功能障礙有關。

該研究還表明，干預組的母親在出生三年後仍保持健康飲食。

儘管婦女在分娩後三年報告的血糖負荷，母體能量和飽和脂肪酸攝入量較低，蛋白質攝入量較高，但自我報告的體育活動或身體成分的測量方法沒有差異。

倫敦國王學院的主要作者凱瑟琳·達勒姆普（Kathryn Dalrymple）表示：“這項研究表明，對孕婦的生活方式乾預（專注於改善飲食和增加體育鍛煉）與三歲兒童的心血管功能改善和持續干預結束三年後，母親的飲食得到改善。這些發現非常令人興奮，因為它們增加了證據，證明懷孕是促進積極健康和生活方式改變的機會之窗，有益於母親和孩子。”

湯米孕產婦和胎兒健康主席的資深作者盧西拉·波斯頓教授說：“妊娠肥胖是一個主要問題，因為它會增加妊娠並發症的風險，並影響孩子的長期健康。這項研究加強了我的決心，以強調我們給孩子們健康的生活起著多重要的作用。”

Tommy研究與政策總監Lizzie D’Angelo表示：“對於肥胖女性來說，懷孕可能會帶來更高的風險，但是不建議在懷孕期間嘗試減輕體重，因此我們的研究重點是尋找新的方法來提高懷孕的安全性對於這些家庭。非常令人放心的是，我們的研究人員能夠長期改善母親的飲食習慣和兒童的心臟健康，從而為這些嬰兒的生活提供最佳開端。”

英國心臟基金會高級營養師特雷西·帕克（Tracy Parker）說：“保持體育鍛煉和保持均衡飲食，都是保持我們心臟健康的重要途徑。這項研究表明，對於孕婦來說，好處還不止於此。懷孕之前，期間和之後的健康飲食對母親和孩子都有積極的長期健康益處。”

研究人員小組將在8-10歲時再次隨訪這些孩子，以觀察這種心血管功能的改善是否一直持續到兒童期。