How a mother's triglyceride levels influence newborn body and liver fat in pregnancies with obesity
Official title: Triglycerides as a Predictor of Newborn Subcutaneous and Liver Fat: Contributors to Fetal Fat Accretion in Obese Pregnancies
Funded at University of Colorado Denver · NIH-11312645 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at whether higher maternal blood triglycerides during pregnancy are linked to more body and liver fat in newborns of people with overweight or obesity.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Colorado Denver NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Aurora, UNITED STATES) |
| Project start | May 7, 2021 |
| Project end | March 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $628,340 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HD102726-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11312645 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are pregnant people with overweight or obesity who can attend prenatal visits and agree to blood tests during pregnancy and newborn imaging after delivery.
✕Less likely to help
People who are not pregnant, who have a normal pre-pregnancy weight, or who cannot attend study visits or deliver at the study site are unlikely to participate or benefit directly.
What this research studies
If you are pregnant and have overweight or obesity, researchers will check your blood fats (fasting and after a meal) at multiple points in pregnancy and measure sugars and cord C‑peptide at delivery. After birth, your baby will have noninvasive imaging to estimate subcutaneous and liver fat. The team will compare early- and late-pregnancy triglyceride and glucose patterns to newborn fat outcomes to understand what drives fetal fat gain. Results aim to point to biological targets that could be tested later to prevent childhood obesity and fatty liver.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could point to ways to reduce newborn fat and lower the child’s future risk of obesity and fatty liver disease by targeting maternal triglycerides during pregnancy.
How similar studies have gone: Prior observational studies and animal data have linked higher maternal triglycerides to greater newborn fat and later fatty liver, but randomized trials to reduce fetal overgrowth in obese pregnancies have not yet found a clearly effective treatment.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Colorado Denver
Aurora, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Barbour, Linda Anne — University of Colorado Denver
- Study coordinator: Barbour, Linda Anne
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.