Nutrition

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After long days discussing America’s obesity problem, Melinda Sothern has had enough of windowless conference rooms.

… Sothern, 55, is a woman who practices what she preaches. And one of her messages about obesity is aimed at women like herself: mothers.

Fat mothers. Thin mothers. And especially mothers-to-be.

A leading fitness and nutrition expert …, she has a theory that the tide of obesity that has swept the nation in the last two decades had its roots in what young mothers did, or didn’t do, in the postwar, suburban-sprouting 1950s.

If she’s right — and evidence is stacking up on her side — reproductive-age women may become the central focus of efforts to reverse America’s fat problem.

The obesity epidemic has multiple causes … Food has changed in the last five decades. Americans have become much more sedentary. But she thinks that obesity rates soared just when they did — in the 1980s — because a generation of young women decades earlier smoked, spurned breast-feeding and restricted their weight during numerous, closely spaced pregnancies.

“It was the evil ’50s. A perfect recipe for obesity,” …

Sothern calls her theory “the obesity trinity.” And she thinks the key to getting Americans to slim down lies in studying those lessons from the past. Among her prescriptions for change: Women who are significantly overweight should be discouraged from having babies until they shed some pounds.

A central part of Sothern’s theory — that obesity starts in the womb — is gaining currency with a growing number of doctors and researchers who say that reversing the epidemic, with its attendant cases of weight-related illnesses such as diabetes, should begin by addressing nutrition in pregnancy and early-life feeding practices.

… Women in the 1950s and 1960s … were generally advised to restrict weight gain in pregnancy to as little as 10 pounds. Inadequate nutrition in some of these women could easily have programmed their babies to catch up on growth during infancy — and studies suggest such growth spurts increase the risk of later obesity.

Women smoked with abandon … Smoking during pregnancy is thought to contribute to obesity risk in offspring because nicotine disrupts mechanisms in the body that control appetite, metabolic rate and fat storage.

By the mid-1970s, breast-feeding in the U.S. had hit an all-time low of 25% … formula-fed babies have a higher risk for obesity than breast-fed babies, perhaps because of metabolic changes or because drinking formula from a bottle is passive and easy and generally done till a bottle is empty.

And since breast-feeding can prevent ovulation, women using formulas were more apt to experience multiple pregnancies over a shorter period of time. Babies born close together can have inferior nutrition during gestation, which can permanently program their metabolism toward becoming overweight.

… Over-nourished kids grew up to be over-nourished women, producing large babies. Large babies, just like too-small babies, are at heightened risk of obesity … They are less sensitive to hunger cues and less sensitive to insulin.

Overweight women are more likely to have diabetes …

… In 1960, middle-aged men were, on average, about 27 pounds lighter than middle-aged men in 2002, and women were more than 25 pounds lighter.

In 1963, the average 10-year-old boy weighed 74 pounds and the average 10-year-old girl 77 pounds — compared with 85 pounds and 88 pounds, respectively, in 2002.

Other changes were afoot in the mid-20th century … a car culture and modern conveniences. The fast-food craze was launched with the first McDonald’s in 1961.

… “There had to be physiological and metabolic changes in our bodies.”

… Sothern thinks the obesity trinity tweaked our genetic material to make us prone to pack on pounds.

… “Significantly overweight women should not have babies. Women should be physically active and have a healthy diet for at least a year before pregnancy,” she says. “I do think we can de-program, but you have to be very aggressive.”

Women should breast-feed for at least six months after childbirth or — better yet — take one year off from work and breast-feed. They should not smoke.

And after those babies become toddlers and enter preschool, they should have 60 minutes a day of recess plus a 40-minute physical education class …

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