Asthma More Likely Among Children of Overweight Mothers

Women who are overweight or obese when they become pregnant may be more likely to have children who develop asthma as teenagers, new research shows. The findings could point to yet another consequence of the rising rates of obesity worldwide. After controlling for a number of potentially complicating factors — like a history of parental smoking or asthma — the researchers found that the teenagers whose mothers had been overweight or obese just before they became pregnant were 20 to 30 percent more likely to have asthma or a history of wheezing. And the teenagers whose mothers were heaviest at the time of pregnancy were nearly 50 percent more likely to have had a history of severe wheezing. . read more.