Obesity in Pregnant Women can Impact the Child's Brain:- Obesity can lead to many problems and overweight in pregnant women can have an impact on the brain of the newborn baby as per the researchers. The study is published in the Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry which discusses the high body mass index (BMI) that is an indicator of obesity. This will have an impact on the brain areas of the children that will be born. The prefrontal cortex and anterior insula of the brain will be impacted, warned the researchers. These regions of the brain are crucial for decision making and behaviour and are linked to attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Moriah Thomason from the New York University in the US says that their study said that obesity plays a role in the fetal brain development in the child. The previous studies too revealed the same. The new investigation measured the changes in the fetal brain activity in the womb after six months into pregnancy. 197 groups of metabolically active nerve cells in the fetal brain are observed through the study. The researchers divided them into 16 meaningful subgroups. The research found two areas where they are statistically strongly linked to the BMI of the mother.

109 women are recruited ageing between 25 and 47. All the women are between six and nine months pregnant. MRI imaging is used to measure the fetal brain activity of the child and other map patterns are prefered. The study was focused completely on the fetal brain activity.