The odds of developing liver disease in your 20s increases for every extra kilo either of your parents had when you were conceived, and more than triples if they’re both overweight.
Higher BMI in either parent at conception significantly raises the risk of liver disease in their children by early adulthood, a large cohort study has found.
For each additional kilogram/m2 of maternal or paternal BMI at conception, the odds of developing liver disease by age 24 increased by 10% and 9%, respectively, the researchers found.
If both parents have overweight or obesity, the risk became more than three times that of young adults whose parents had normal pre-pregnancy BMIs (OR 3.73), according to the UK Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC).
Pre-pregnancy waist circumference showed a stronger association with offspring MASLD in fathers than in mothers, with odds ratios of 1.27 and 1.13 respectively per 5cm increase.
While maternal obesity has been linked to offspring metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), the roles of paternal obesity and childhood overweight are less clear, authors noted.
The team of international researchers analysed data from 1933 kids and their parents, which included parents’ height, weight, age, BMI, waist circumference, diabetes/high blood pressure status, employment status and education level, as well as regular health and lifestyle surveys.
For offspring, early life factors were assessed (sex, mode of delivery, gestational age and birthweight, antibiotic exposure within the first six months of life and length of breastfeeding), and BMI and waist circumference was measured between ages seven and nine, 10-12 and 13-17. Additionally, alcohol and tobacco use began being assessed as they entered adulthood.
By 24 years of age, one in 10 young adults in the birth cohort had MASLD, defined as high levels of fat in the liver with at least one cardiometabolic risk factor (e.g., high cholesterol or high fasting glucose).
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These individuals were more likely to be male and have a higher BMI, and both maternal and paternal anthropometric measures were larger, parental smoking was more common and parental education levels were lower.
Maternal and paternal overweight and obesity were independently associated with increased odds, and 67% of the association was influenced by cumulative excess BMI between the ages of seven and 17, the researchers found.
Current drinking among offspring, smoking, early life factors, childhood sugar consumption and other parental factors were similar between the two groups. There was no information on parental MASLD, underlying conditions before and during pregnancy or physical activity levels of offspring in early adulthood.
“Although the mechanisms behind this association are complex, our study suggests a window where early intervention on excess adiposity may decrease the burden of MASLD among future generations,” the authors wrote.
