Physical activity during pregnancy and association with changes in fat mass and adipokines in women of normal-weight or with obesity.

Adipose tissue and adipokine concentrations change markedly during pregnancy, but the effects of physical activity on these changes are rarely studied. We aimed to assess physical activity levels in pregnant women of normal-weight (NW) or with obesity (OB), and to determine the relation with changes in fat mass and adipokines. In each trimester, pregnant women (136 NW, 51 OB) were interviewed about their physical activity and had their body composition, leptin, soluble leptin receptor (sOB-R) and adiponectin determined. NW reported higher activity and more aerobic exercise than OB during early pregnancy. Both groups maintained training frequency but reduced overall activity as pregnancy progressed. NW women reporting aerobic and/or resistance exercise and OB women reporting aerobic exercise had greater sOB-R increases (independent of BMI or gestational weight gain). In NW, exercise also associated with lower fat mass and leptin increases. Higher activity levels associated with lower gestational weight gain in both groups. The relationship between physical activity and adiponectin differed between NW and OB. Maternal exercise may partly mediate its beneficial effects through regulation of leptin bioavailability, by enhancing pregnancy-induced increases in sOB-R. This could be of particular importance in OB with pre-gestational hyperleptinemia and leptin resistance.

Infant body composition relationship to maternal adipokines and fat mass: the PONCH study.

BACKGROUND: Infant adiposity is linked to both high maternal fat mass (FM) and excessive gestational FM gain, whereas the association with maternal adipokines is less clear. The aim was to determine how levels of maternal leptin, the soluble leptin receptor (sOB-R), adiponectin, and FM during pregnancy were linked to infant FM in normal-weight (NW) women and women with obesity (OB). METHODS: Body composition and serum levels of leptin, adiponectin, and sOB-R were determined three times during pregnancy in 80 NW and 46 OB women. For infants, body composition was measured at 1 and 12 weeks of age. RESULTS: Maternal leptin and sOB-R levels increased during pregnancy. For NW women, infant FM at 1 week was inversely associated with changes in maternal leptin and at 12 weeks inversely associated with absolute maternal sOB-R levels throughout pregnancy, as well as changes in sOB-R levels in early pregnancy. For OB women, infant FM at both 1 and 12 weeks were best explained by maternal FM. CONCLUSIONS: Leptin and sOB-R, thought to regulate leptin bioavailability, are associated with fat accumulation in infants born to NW women. In OB women, maternal FM in early pregnancy is more important than leptin in determining infant fat accumulation. IMPACT: In normal-weight women, the regulation of maternal leptin bioavailability during pregnancy has a role in infant fat mass accumulation. In women with obesity, however, pre-pregnancy maternal fat mass seems more important for infant fat mass. This is the first study of maternal adipokines and fat mass including longitudinal measurements in both mothers and their children. Understanding the relationship between maternal factors and infant fat mass is of great importance as obesity is programmed over the generations, and it is important to learn what regulates this programming.