Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Pregnancy lifestyle interventions and child health: lessons learned from the GeliS trial

Pediatric Research volume 98, pages 363–364 (2025)Cite this article

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

Commentary

The prenatal period is a critical window for shaping child health, with maternal lifestyle during pregnancy exerting a profound influence over long-term outcomes such as obesity and neurodevelopment. As rates of childhood obesity increase globally—bringing with them health risks from cardiometabolic syndromes and reduced quality of life—interventions targeting this early phase hold immense promise. Similarly, optimizing neurodevelopment in preschool years lays a foundation for cognitive and social success. Studying antenatal lifestyle interventions is essential for understanding how maternal health behaviors affect offspring development and for identifying scalable strategies to mitigate the transgenerational transmission of chronic conditions. This urgency highlights the need for rigorous, real-world research to bridge the gap between intention and impact.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Institute of Medicine (Subcommittees on Nutritional Status and Weight Gain During Pregnancy and Dietary Intake and Nutrient Supplements During Pregnancy, Committee on Nutritional Status During Pregnancy and Lactation, Food and Nutrition Board). Nutrition during pregnancy: Part I, weight gain; Part II, nutrient supplements. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; (1990).

  2. Thomson, J. L., Goodman, M. H., Tussing-Humphreys, L. M. & Landry, A. S. Infant growth outcomes from birth to 12 months of age: findings from the Delta Healthy Sprouts randomized comparative impact trial. Obes. Sci. Pr. 4, 299–307 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Rauh, K., Günther, J., Kunath, J., Stecher, L. & Hauner, H. Lifestyle intervention to prevent excessive maternal weight gain: mother and infant follow-up at 12 months postpartum. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 15, 265 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Chiavaroli, V. et al. Exercise in pregnancy: 1-year and 7-year follow-ups of mothers and offspring after a randomized controlled trial. Sci. Rep. 8, 2915 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Symons Downs, D. et al. Individually tailored, adaptive intervention to manage gestational weight gain: protocol for a randomized controlled trial in women with overweight and obesity. JMIR Res. Protoc. 7, e150 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Stafne, S. et al. Regular exercise during pregnancy to prevent gestational diabetes: a randomized controlled trial. Obstet. Gynecol. 119, 29–36 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Ronnberg, A., Hanson, U. & Nilsson, K. Effects of an antenatal lifestyle intervention on offspring obesity - a 5-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial. Acta Obstet. Gynecol. Scand. 96, 1093–1099 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Dodd, J. M. et al. Effects of an antenatal dietary intervention in overweight and obese women on 6 month infant outcomes: follow-up from the LIMIT randomised trial. Int J. Obes. 42, 1326–1335 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. McEachan, R. et al. The HAPPY (healthy and active parenting programme for early years) feasibility randomised control trial: acceptability and feasibility of an intervention to reduce infant obesity. BMC Public Health 16, 211 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Geyer, K. et al. Child somatic growth and neurodevelopment: effects of pregnancy lifestyle intervention. Pediatr. Res. (2025).

  11. Crovetto, F. et al. Effect of a Mediterranean diet or mindfulness-based stress reduction during pregnancy on child neurodevelopment: a prespecified analysis of the IMPACT BCN randomized clinical trial. JAMA Netw. Open 6, e2330255 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Raab, R., Geyer, K., Zagar, S. & Hauner, H. App-supported lifestyle interventions in pregnancy to manage gestational weight gain and prevent gestational diabetes: scoping review. J. Med. Internet Res. 25, e48853 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Rauh, K. et al. Healthy living in pregnancy: a cluster-randomized controlled trial to prevent excessive gestational weight gain—rationale and design of the GeliS study. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 14, 119 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Kunath, J. et al. Effects of a lifestyle intervention during pregnancy to prevent excessive gestational weight gain in routine care - the cluster-randomised GeliS trial. Pediatr. Res. 2019 17, 5 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Günther, J. et al. Effects of a lifestyle intervention in routine care on short- and long-term maternal and fetal outcomes. Pediatr. Res. 9, 2488 (2020).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Spies, M. et al. Child anthropometrics and neurodevelopment at 2 and 3 years of age following an antenatal lifestyle intervention in routine care—a secondary analysis from the cluster-randomised GeliS trial. J. Clin. Med. 11, 1688 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  17. Geserick, M. et al. Acceleration of BMI in early childhood and risk of sustained obesity. N. Engl. J. Med. 379, 1303–1312 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Howe, C. J., Cole, S. R., Lau, B., Napravnik, S. & Eron, J. J. Jr. Selection bias due to loss to follow up in cohort studies. Epidemiology 27, 91–97 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Raab, R. et al. Associations between lifestyle interventions during pregnancy and childhood weight and growth: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Pediatr. Res. 94, 1234–1245 (2023).

    Google Scholar 

  20. Barakat, R. et al. Physical activity during pregnancy and childhood obesity: systematic review and meta-analysis. Pediatr. Res. 94, 876–885 (2023).

    Google Scholar 

  21. Teede, H. J., Bailey, C. & Moran, L. J. Association of antenatal diet and physical activity–based interventions with gestational weight gain and pregnancy outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Pediatr. Res. 92, 1012–1023 (2022).

    Google Scholar 

  22. Voerman, E. et al. Association of gestational weight gain with adverse maternal and infant outcomes. JAMA 32, 1702–1715 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  23. Sanders, M. R., Markie-Dadds, C., Tully, L. A. & Bor, W. Triple P-Positive Parenting Program: a comparison of enhanced, standard, and self-directed behavioral family intervention for parents of children with early onset conduct problems. J. Consult Clin. Psychol. 68, 624–640 (2000).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA

    Gregory P. Goldstein, Elizabeth Yen & Jonathan M. Davis

  2. Division of Newborn Medicine, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA

    Gregory P. Goldstein, Elizabeth Yen & Jonathan M. Davis

  3. The Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    Jonathan M. Davis

Authors
  1. Gregory P. Goldstein
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Elizabeth Yen
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jonathan M. Davis
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed to reviewing the manuscript, drafting the Commentary, and final review and edits of the Commentary.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jonathan M. Davis.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Goldstein, G.P., Yen, E. & Davis, J.M. Pregnancy lifestyle interventions and child health: lessons learned from the GeliS trial. Pediatr Res 98, 363–364 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-025-04035-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-025-04035-8

Search

Advanced search

Quick links