A study by Aarhus University shows that the risk of obesity increases if a person has faced severe stress in early life.
Though the researchers have previously shown that severe stress experienced by pregnant women can lead to weight problems for children between 10 and 13 years, a correlation between the mother's level of stress during pregnancy and the risk of developing overweight or obesity as an adult is new.
Lena Hohwu, PhD, from the University said that the overall results indicate that stress can create a programming of the unborn child that makes it susceptible to putting on weight after birth.
And though there's still a lot of research to be done in this area, they have added a little piece to our understanding of why people are experiencing an obesity epidemic, in which one in five children in Denmark are overweight, and where most of them will remain overweight as adults.
The study is based on data from 119,908 young men who were summoned to the Danish conscription examination between 2006-2011, during which their body mass index or BMI was measured.
After specifically investigating the stress factor that occurs when the child's mother loses a close relative just before or during pregnancy, it was designated as 'an indicator of severe stress' that can double the risk of developing obesity in adulthood, Hohwu added.
The study is published in PloS ONE.
