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Epidemiology and Population Health

Intergenerational associations between maternal body mass index before or during pregnancy with offspring metabolomics: a systematic review and meta-analysis

International Journal of Obesity (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objectives

In this systematic review, we aimed to investigate the association of maternal body mass index (BMI) before or during pregnancy and the metabolic profiles of offspring in the life course.

Methods

We searched six databases: PubMed, Ovid Embase, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Wan Fang data and China National Knowledge Infrastructure, which yielded 3584 unduplicated articles, and after the full-text screening, 12 observational and three intervention studies met the inclusion criteria. Ten studies assessed pre-pregnancy BMI (ppBMI), whereas the remaining used booking BMI during antenatal visits. Most studies (10 out of 15) examined newborn metabolomics, four in early-mid childhood, and only one in adolescents and adults. The number of mother-offspring pairs ranged from 57 to 10,251, and the age of the population ranged from 15 to 44.

Results

We found that maternal BMI before or during pregnancy was positively associated with adverse offspring metabolomic profiles, characterized by lipids (higher triglyceride, total cholesterol and lower high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol), amino acids (higher branched-chain amino acids and aromatic amino acids), carbohydrate-related metabolites (higher glucose and insulin). Studies on lipids have the most consistent results in both observational and intervention studies. The impact of maternal BMI on offspring metabolomics exerted from birth till adolescence and young adulthood.

Conclusions

Our study highlights a potential intergenerational association between maternal BMI and offspring metabolomic profiles. Interventions on maternal BMI before or during pregnancy showed the potential to reverse the adverse changes in offspring’s metabolic profiles, but long-term health benefits warrant to be verified.

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Funding

ML was funded by the Science and Technology Department of Jiangxi Province, the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (20232BAB216103) and the Chunhui Program, Department of International Cooperation and Exchange, Ministry of Education (HZKY20220393), Nanchang University Youth Talent Cultivation Innovation Fund Project (XX202506050054) and the Chinese Scholarship Council.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Huan Hu, Yue Yang, Yongping Zhang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang University, Jiangxi, China

    Huan Hu, Yue Yang, Yongping Zhang, Jinhong Liu, Jinrui Xiong, Zimeng Chen, Peng Huang & Mengjiao Liu

  2. Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Disease Prevention and Public Health, Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang University, Jiangxi, China

    Yongping Zhang, Peng Huang & Mengjiao Liu

  3. Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Ling-Jun Li & Ruochen Du

  4. Human Potential Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Ling-Jun Li

  5. Global Centre for Asian Women’s Health, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Ling-Jun Li

  6. Bio-Echo Asia Centre for Reproductive Longevity & Equality, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Ling-Jun Li

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Contributions

ML proposed the research idea, HH drafted the study proposal; JL, JX, ZC and HH conducted literature screening. YY and YZ drafted the tables, HH drafted the manuscript and RD ran the meta-analysis. ML, LL, YZ and PH reviewed and revised the manuscript. HH, YY and JL helped with reference collation. YZ helped with the paper submission. All authors approved the final publication of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ling-Jun Li or Mengjiao Liu.

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Hu, H., Yang, Y., Zhang, Y. et al. Intergenerational associations between maternal body mass index before or during pregnancy with offspring metabolomics: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Obes (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-025-01840-3

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