Sons of young mothers are more likely to develop diabetes

A mother’s age at delivery may affect the birth weight of a male baby, according to new research presented March 6 at ENDO 2015, the annual meeting of endocrinologists in San Diego. USA.

“Our results show that in women who give birth at a very young age / before the age of 25 / or later / after the age of 34 / it is possible to deteriorate the absorption of sugars and thus it is possible to increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in their sons,” said Charlotte Verroken, MD, from the Department of Endocrinology at the University Hospital of Ghent, Belgium.

Maternal age at birth has been on a steady upward trend worldwide in recent decades, but studies investigating its effects on the metabolic health of the offspring are scarce.

Whether or not, and if so, how this affects the health of the offspring is largely unknown.

But most scientists and doctors believe that to some extent the relationship between maternal age and insulin resistance may be due to the tendency for children’s birth weight to increase as the mother ages.

“We found that in a group of healthy men between the ages of 25 and 45, the state of glucose metabolism was related to the age of their mothers when they gave birth,” says Verroken.

“Specifically, sons of mothers under 30 and over 34 years of age at birth had higher insulin resistance than those whose mothers were between 30 and 34 years of age at birth.

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What’s more, sons of mothers who are under 25 at the time of birth have higher blood sugar levels than male offspring of older mothers,’ she continues.

Verroquin and her colleagues used data from a larger study that looked at sibling pairs. The current study analyzed data on 689 healthy siblings aged 25 to 45 years, and the mean was 33.9 years.

Researchers had information on the brothers’ birth weight, maternal and paternal age at birth, adult body mass, height, body composition and blood pressure.

And the scientists also had the brothers’ data on cholesterol, glucose and insulin levels.

The birth age of their mothers was in the range of 15-48 years with an average age of 27 years. The mothers were divided into 4 groups according to their birth age – under 25 years, 25-29 years, 30-34 and over 35 years

Verroquin and her colleagues based the brothers’ data on total cholesterol, glucose and insulin levels to determine their insulin resistance.

After adjusting for age and body mass, the researchers found that as a mother’s age increased, her baby’s birth weight increased and his blood glucose levels and insulin resistance values ​​decreased.

Men whose birth mothers were 30-34 years old had significantly lower insulin levels and insulin resistance values ​​than those whose mothers were in the other groups.