Obesity drug use does not avoid babies from being born overweight

Washington DC: If a pregnant woman is on obesity medication, it does not mean that her baby won't be born overweight, says a new research.

The study, led by the University of Edinburgh, tested whether treating overweight mothers-to-be with the diabetes drug metformin - which helps to regulate blood sugar - would reduce the weight of their babies, but found no difference in the weight of babies born to mothers who received the treatment, compared with a group of 223 women who received a dummy pill.

Metformin also had no effect on the number of birth complications, such as miscarriages and still births.

However, the treatment did help to reduce blood sugar levels in the mothers-to-be. It also helped to lower the levels of other markers that have been linked to pre-eclampsia and premature births.

Professor Jane Norman at the University of Edinburgh, said that the children of obese pregnant women faced a lifetime of long term health complications as they grow up. The results of the EMPOWaR study emphasise the importance for women to be of normal weight before pregnancy.

The study is published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.