Fish oil in pregnancy for a healthy start to life for the children of overweight mothers

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In New Zealand the majority of men (71%) and women (60%) are now overweight or obese. Obesity leads to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers, which are among the world’s greatest health problems. Within NZ, Maori, Pasifika and those who are poorer are more greatly affected. Most women of reproductive age are also overweight or obese (60%). This is important as the offspring of women who are obese have alterations in the way their metabolism works that increase the chance that they will be a large baby, become overweight and eventually develop diabetes and cardiovascular disease. When these babies are born, they are already at a health disadvantage. The underlying problem is that insulin, the hormone that controls blood sugar works less well in their bodies. I have shown in rats, that supplementing obese mothers with fish oil can prevent the offspring from developing problems with insulin action as they age. If this treatment had the same effect in humans, pregnant women could use it to reduce their unborn child’s lifetime risk of disease. This is a treatment that is already easily available in stores, so that it would be easy for women to take up. We will enrol women into a clinical trial where they are randomised to take either fish oil, or a placebo (capsules with ordinary olive oil) on every day of pregnancy and the first 3 months of breastfeeding. When the baby is born we will measure its body fat using a special scan (at two weeks of age). We will reassess the baby again at 3 months and 12 months of age. We will keep in contact over time, and when the child is 4-7 years old we will perform a detailed assessment of the child’s metabolism, including assessing insulin action.