It has long been known that a cesarean section can negatively affect the health of children born with it. Now experts have linked this operation to the risk of obesity in such children.
The new study is available in JAMA Pediatrics, with a summary provided by The Guardian. The focus of attention of American scientists was the health risks of people born with the help of a cesarean section. In total, the study affected 22 thousand children who were born to 15 thousand women.
As it turned out, those who were born as a result of a cesarean section, the risk of becoming obese in the future increased by 15% in comparison with people who were born in the usual way. This phenomenon was especially pronounced in families with many children. In this case, children born with the help of uterine incision surgery were 64% more likely to suffer from obesity than their siblings.
The reason for this is the bacteria that enter the baby's intestines during a cesarean section. They lead to a change in the metabolic rate in the body. Ultimately, according to experts, this leads to the fact that a person has an excessive feeling of hunger and begins to overeat. Researchers also note that the most common cesarean section is used by late-bearing mothers and obese women. Moreover, the modern dynamics is such that every year there are more and more such women in labor.
It has been previously established that babies born by caesarean section have a higher risk of future asthma and type 2 diabetes. As a result of one of the experiments on mice, it was also found that a cesarean section leads to a decrease in children's immunity.
Recall that not so long ago, Chinese and American doctors tried to understand why about 50% of children in China are born with a caesarean section. As it turned out, one of the reasons for this is the policy of "One family - one child" pursued by the PRC leadership since the 70s. Note that this demographic policy has now been canceled: the changes came into force on January 1, 2016.
