In this episode, Therese Markow interviews Dr. Shaina Stacy about her studies on cancer risks in children depending upon the body mass index (BMI) of their mothers before and during pregnancy. Dr. Stacy explains how she obtained a sample of nearly 2 million mother-child pairs in the state of Pennsylvania, the largest sample size ever for such a study. They discuss how children of women with a BMI of over 30 when pregnant had a significantly higher risk of cancers compared to children of lean mothers. This was notable for leukemia in children under 5, especially acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The mechanism underlying the increased risk is not yet known.

Key Takeaways:

• Maternal obesity before and during pregnancy increases the risk of cancers in children under 5 years of age.

• The risk of leukemia, especially acute lymphoblastic leukemia or ALL, is the greatest.

• Children of white, educated women, if obese during pregnancy, have the highest risk.

• Transgenerational effects of obesity are becoming more apparent.

"We found that children born to mothers in our highest BMI category had over 30% higher risk of developing any type of childhood cancer." — Dr. Shaina Stacy

Connect with Dr. Shaina Stacy:

Scientific American Blog Post: Cancer Prevention Should Start before Birth - https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/cancer-prevention-should-start-before-birth/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaina-stacy-0664962b/

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Threads: @critically_speaking

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

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