{"id":133592,"date":"2026-05-12T17:20:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T17:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/maternal-insulin-resistance-linked-to-more-belly-fat-in-girls\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T17:34:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T17:34:55","slug":"maternal-insulin-resistance-linked-to-more-belly-fat-in-girls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/maternal-insulin-resistance-linked-to-more-belly-fat-in-girls\/","title":{"rendered":"Maternal insulin resistance linked to more belly fat in girls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

Girls born to mothers with high insulin resistance during the third trimester are more likely to have more belly fat at age 7, according to research presented at the 28th European Congress of Endocrinology in Prague. Maternal insulin resistance was not associated with boys’ body fat, suggesting that girls may be more sensitive to maternal insulin resistance during late pregnancy. The findings highlight the importance of maternal metabolic health for children’s future well-being and health.<\/p>\n

During pregnancy, the body requires more insulin than after the first trimester due to hormonal changes in the placenta. Insulin resistance peaks in the third trimester of pregnancy \u2013 usually around 32-36 weeks. Exposure to different hormones in early life can shape children’s long-term health.<\/p>\n

In this study, researchers at Odense University Hospital in Denmark analyzed data on insulin resistance, fasting blood sugar and insulin levels of 903 women during the third trimester of pregnancy from the Odense Child Cohort. They also measured the body composition of 903 children aged 7 and found that girls exposed to higher insulin resistance in the womb had more fat around the central trunk and upper body, around the lower body, and in total body fat. Furthermore, each 1 mmol\/L higher maternal fasting blood glucose level was associated with approximately 6% higher body fat percentage in girls. These findings held true regardless of the mother’s pre-pregnancy weight.<\/p>\n

Although previous studies have shown an association between maternal blood sugar levels and children’s body fat mass, there are inconsistent results on the differences between boys and girls. “Our findings indicate that girls may be more sensitive than boys to the effects of maternal insulin resistance during pregnancy. In boys, greater body fat was mainly explained by the mother’s BMI, whereas in girls, the specific metabolic environment in the womb \u2013 independent of the mother’s weight \u2013 plays a larger role,” said Dr. Camilla Viola Palm, who was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Our study contributes new insights by using measures of insulin resistance in the third trimester and DXA scans to assess fat distribution in 7-year-old children. Furthermore, the participating mothers and health professionals had no knowledge of the glucose and insulin assessments, which ensured that the results were not influenced by any changes in diet or medical treatment.<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

Dr. Camila Viola Palm<\/p>\n

\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“The pregnant women in our study were relatively lean and healthy, which suggests that even in mothers with no metabolic risk, high insulin resistance during pregnancy may lead to future abdominal fat accumulation in their girls,” Dr. Palm said. “Excess abdominal fat may increase girls’ risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease later in life, so maternal insulin resistance should ideally be addressed early in pregnancy \u2013 or ideally before conception.”<\/p>\n

\n

Source:<\/p>\n

\n

European Society of Endocrinology<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Girls born to mothers with high insulin resistance during the third trimester are more likely to have more belly fat at age 7, according to research presented at the 28th European Congress of Endocrinology in Prague. Maternal insulin resistance was not associated with boys’ body fat, suggesting that girls may be more sensitive to maternal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[30399,13885,1779,7331,2926,18071,2588],"class_list":["post-133592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-daily-bread","tag-belly","tag-fat","tag-girls","tag-insulin","tag-linked","tag-maternal","tag-resistance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133592"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133624,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133592\/revisions\/133624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}