Babies treated in the womb for obesity

UNITED KINGDOM – More than 400 pregnant moms will take anti-obesity pills in a new study aimed at creating smaller babies and lowering the risk for Caesarean sections. The three-year study will be completed at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital in the U.K., along with others in Coventry and Edinburgh.

The pregnant moms involved, who are all obese, will not lose any weight in the process. The babies are the ones expected to get smaller from the pills.

Half of the women will take Metformin, which is used to treat diabetic, pregnant women. The drug reduces blood sugar levels passed from moms to babies in the womb. The other half will take a placebo.

Dr. Andrew Weeks told The Telegraph: “The difficulty (for the moms) comes when you have been living in a particular way for years that is not healthy. To suddenly change to a different lifestyle is not easy to do.”
“Lifestyle change takes time and we would always encourage this as well, but the use of Metformin gives us another option when the other is not realistic.”

Tags: babies, featured

Category: Features, Pharmaceuticals