Lower levels of maternal capital in early life predict offspring obesity in adulthood

Abstract

Background: As of 2013, 65% of the world’s population lived in countries where overweight/obesity kills more people than being underweight. Evolutionary perspectives provide a holistic understanding of both how and why obesity develops and its long-term implications. Aim: To test whether the maternal capital hypothesis, an evolutionary perspective, is viable for explaining the development of obesity in adulthood. Subjects and methods: Restricted-use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health; n = 11 403) was analysed using logistic regressions. The sample included adolescents and their biological mothers. Results: The odds of obesity in adulthood increased by 22% for every standard deviation increase in lack of maternal capital (Exp (B) = 1.22, p < .001). That is, individuals whose mothers were young, of an ethnic minority and had short breastfeeding durations were more likely to be obese in adulthood, even after controlling for other factors in infancy, adolescence and adulthood. The results showed that those whose mothers had lower capital were more prone to later life disease (specifically, obesity). Conclusion: The maternal capital perspective is useful for explaining how and why early life characteristics (including maternal resources) predict obesity in adulthood. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Keywords

• developmental origins of health and disease
• maternal phenotype
• non-communicable disease
• health across the lifespan
• breastfeeding