Scientists Find Strong Links Between Maternal Obesity and Diabetes To Children With Autism

A new study claims that pregnant women who have diabetes and are obese are of high risk in having their baby diagnosed with autism compared to women who are healthy.

Dr. Xiaobin Wang, head of the research and director of the Center on Early Life Origins of Disease at John Hopkins University, said that the whole findings were not that surprising to him. His team used over 2,700 mother and child pairs to be the subjects of this study. Hence, the result of those moms who have a combination of diabetes and obesity received a quadrupled amount of risks of their child being diagnosed with autism.

In a news article published by 13WMAZ, mothers who only have diabetes or just obese received about twice the possibility of their child to be diagnosed with autism.

Dr. Wang explained that this is not the only research that has shown results on maternal obesity and diabetes creating a huge impact in the life of a developing fetus inside the womb and their health in general as they grow up.

Although results of this study have been evident in the lives of more than 2,700 mom and child cases, it still has not proven that those with diabetes and obesity could actually be the reason of autism to children. However, this research has generally strengthened the link of autism to maternal obesity and diabetes, as per Science Daily's report.

With over 2,700 test results that scientists have made from babies delivered by mothers who were both obese and diabetic as well as those healthy ones, it goes to show that the risk of autism could have started even before birth.

Researchers of this study said that they were lucky enough to have been granted access to loads of medical records to help them support their theory. They owe it all to a well-known autism diagnosis and treatment center, the Cincinnati Children's Kelly O'Leary Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders. Hopefully, their study would create awareness to both pregnant and soon-to-be pregnant women.