Maternal body mass index, gestational weight gain, and the risk of overweight and obesity across childhood: An individual participant data meta-analysis

These investigators painstakingly collated individual-level data from 37 pregnancy and birth cohort studies from Europe, North America, and Australia, comprising 162,129 mothers and their children, in order to identify the optimal levels gestational weight gain in relation to risk of offspring obesity. They confirm excessive gestational weight gain as an independent risk factor to childhood obesity, but its additional effects are small compared to the impact of maternal overweight or obesity before pregnancy.