Obese Women's Kids More Likely To Have Asthma

Babies born to obese mothers may have an increased risk of asthma, a new study said.

Researchers looked at data on nearly 4,000 children who were tracked until they were about 8 years old. Twenty percent of the mothers in the study were overweight.

In children who had at least one asthmatic parent, maternal obesity increased their risk of having asthma by 65 percent over children of asthmatic parents whose mothers were not overweight.

"This suggests that children of overweight mothers are exposed to increased levels of pro-inflammatory factors during fetal life, and may have a much greater risk for developing asthma than similar children whose mothers were not overweight," said Dr. Jet Smit of the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands.

Smit said that overweight people often have systemic inflammation along with the excess fatty tissues.

"These findings suggest that there are multiple benefits to maintaining -- or in some cases attaining -- a healthy body weight. In women of child-bearing age, it may not just be a benefit to their health, but to their offspring as well," Smit said.

The research was presented at the 105th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego.