Summary Response Essay

Submitted By pbonney
Words: 306
Pages: 2

Childhood Obesity Linked to a Mother’s Weight Gain in Pregnancy In the article Study: Childhood Obesity Linked to Mother’s Weight Gain in Pregnancy by Allie Birdwell speaks of the research of David Ludwig, the founder of the hospital’s new Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center. The center conducted a study looking for a correlation between a mother’s weight gain during pregnancy and her offspring’s body mass index at the age of twelve. Ludwig did this study on over ninety-thousand adolescents in Arkansas and found that in children whose mother gained more weight in pregnancy did in fact have a higher body max index. Ludwig also only performed this study on those who had siblings to rule out the variables of home environment and genetics as the siblings variables would be the same. The variation of the body max index in children whose mother’s did gain a significant amount of weight compared to those who didn’t was about a half a unit, or two or three pounds. Ludwig’s study proved his theory, even though the amount of weight may not seem significant. In my opinion Ludwig’s study does seem credible and is a major concern in American health. Ludwig did a thorough study and did prove his theory to be true, and all though the weight difference doesn’t seem significant; the childhood obesity rate has more than tripled in the past thirty years, making it a major concern. I feel it could be partially genetics that determines weight, but also how the mother handles her