How pregnancy and early life influence a child's risk of obesity
A Pre-, Peri-, and Post-natal Approach to Understanding the Risk and Mechanisms for Obesity
This project looks at how maternal health, antibiotic exposures, and baby gut bacteria before, during, and after birth may shape a young child's chance of becoming obese.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Michigan State University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (East Lansing, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11296852 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you join, researchers will follow mothers through pregnancy and their babies during the first years of life and collect health information, antibiotic use, body measurements, and infant stool samples. They will analyze the baby’s gut bacteria and the small molecules those microbes make, especially around 1 month of age, and compare those patterns to weight and growth by age 2. The team will look separately at groups based on the mother’s weight before pregnancy to see if different prenatal environments change the way microbes affect growth. The goal is to find early microbial or metabolic signs linked to rapid weight gain so future prevention efforts can target those pathways.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Pregnant people and their newborns (infants followed through early childhood), especially those willing to share health information and provide infant stool samples, are the ideal candidates.
Not a fit: People who are not pregnant or who have children past the toddler years would not directly benefit from participation in this project.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could point to early microbial or metabolic markers that help prevent childhood obesity by guiding interventions during pregnancy or infancy.
How similar studies have performed: Previous studies have shown links between maternal BMI, infant gut microbiota at 1 month, and obesity by age 2, but causal mechanisms and effective prevention strategies remain unproven.
Where this research is happening
East Lansing, United States
- Michigan State University — East Lansing, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Comstock, Sarah S. — Michigan State University
- Study coordinator: Comstock, Sarah S.
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 below.