article: Maternal Obesity and Fetal Brain - Gifted Issues Discussion Forum

Maternal obesity and the fetal brain
By Andrea G Edlow MD MSc, Larissa H Mattei BA
May 26, 2016
Contemporary OB/Gyn

Originally Posted by article: Maternal obesity and the fetal brain

... every increase of 1 unit in maternal prepregnancy BMI found to be associated with a significant reduction in offspring IQ and non-verbal IQ, suggesting a dose-response relationship.
...
Of note, extremely low maternal pre-pregnancy BMI (<18.5 kg/m2) has also been significantly associated with lower offspring IQ, although the reported decrement is less than in the setting of maternal obesity

While correlation does not mean causation, this article suggests that maintaining a healthy weight prior to pregnancy may provide lasting benefits to the child... including possible influence upon the child's IQ.

Help. I had a BMI of about 27 when i got pregnant with ds9 and his IQ tested at 158. I'm glad i wasn't at my lightest BMI of about 23.

I don't see anything in this article about whether they controlled for a number of conditions that we KNOW affect IQ, such as maternal IQ or hypothyroidism or even things that probably affect IQ such as PIH, preeclampsia and eclampsia. So anyway, puffin, I think at this point correlation is the best you can say, likely due to a multitude of factors also correlated with maternal weight.

I figure that. But in NZ we are always being regaled with things that will boost your child's IQ and my general thought is I am glad my ds9's IQ isn't any higher and DS7's IQ is plenty high enough.

While, the difference between obese and nonobese mothers' offsprings is 2-5 points. For each unit of BMI, it will be less than one point. Hardly a big effect when applied to individual kids.

Individuals with higher levels of educational attainment have significantly lower rates of obesity than individuals with lower levels of educational attainment.

This relationship may account for some of the correlation between maternal obesity and IQ.

http://stateofobesity.org/socioeconomics-obesity/