Science and Health

Overweight dads more likely to have smaller babies

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-12-08 11:02

WELLINGTON - New Zealand's Auckland University researchers have found that overweight fathers are more likely to have undersized babies, New Zealand media reported on Wednesday.

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The findings, which have been published in the journal Obesity, come from a study that looked at more than 2,000 couples in New Zealand's Auckland and Australia's Adelaide.

Small babies are more likely to be stillborn, and to have complications following birth and later life.

Lead researcher Professor Lesley McCowan said there is an almost two-fold increase in the risk of a baby being undernourished at birth when its father is overweight.

She said that suggests paternal health has a role to play in pregnancy complications, and more research will be done to explore that.