Maternal insulin resistance in pregnancy is associated with fetal fat deposition: findings from a longitudinal study.

Background: Newborns exhibit substantial variation in fat mass accretion over gestation. These individual differences in newborn adiposity extend into infancy and childhood and relate to subsequent risk of obesity and metabolic dysregulation. Maternal glucose homeostasis in pregnancy has been proposed as an underlying mechanism; however, the timing in gestation when maternal glucose regulation influences the progression of fetal fat deposition remain unclear.

Placental Corticotrophin-Releasing Hormone is a Modulator of Fetal Liver Blood Perfusion.

Context: Variation in fetal liver blood flow influences fetal growth and postnatal body composition. Placental corticotrophin-releasing hormone has been implicated as a key mediator of placental-fetal perfusion.

Objective: To determine whether circulating levels of placental corticotrophin-releasing hormone across gestation are associated with variations in fetal liver blood flow.

Association between supraclavicular brown adipose tissue composition at birth and adiposity gain from birth to 6 months of age.

BackgroundBrown adipose tissue (BAT) is associated with higher energy expenditure and lower adiposity in adults. However, the relationship between BAT composition and adiposity in early life is unknown. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that brown fat composition at birth is prospectively associated with adiposity gain during the first 6 months of postnatal life.

Prospective association of fetal liver blood flow at 30 weeks gestation with newborn adiposity.

Background: The production of variation in adipose tissue accretion represents a key fetal adaptation to energy substrate availability during gestation. Because umbilical venous blood transports nutrient substrate from the maternal to the fetal compartment and because the fetal liver is the primary organ in which nutrient interconversion occurs, it has been proposed that variations in the relative distribution of umbilical venous blood flow shunting either through ductus venosus or perfusing the fetal liver represents a mechanism underlying this adaptation.

Objective: The objective of the present study was to determine whether fetal liver blood flow assessed before the period of maximal fetal fat deposition (ie, the third trimester of gestation) is prospectively associated with newborn adiposity.

Association of ultrasound-based measures of fetal body composition with newborn adiposity.

Background: Newborns exhibit substantial variation in gestational age-adjusted and sex-adjusted fat mass proportion. The antecedent characteristics of fetal body composition that are associated with newborn fat mass proportion are poorly understood.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether a composite measure of fetal fat mass is prospectively associated with newborn adiposity.