Associations between sugar-sweetened beverages before and during pregnancy and offspring overweight/obesity in Japanese women: The TMM BirThree Cohort Study

Objective: The association between high sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) intake during pregnancy and offspring overweight/obesity has been reported only from Western countries. The objective of this study was to examine the association between SSB intake before and during pregnancy and offspring overweight/obesity among Japanese women. Design: Japanese prospective birth cohort study Setting: We analysed mother-offspring pairs who participated in the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project Birth and Three-Generation Cohort Study from 2013 to 2017. SSB intake during pregnancy was evaluated using the food frequency questionnaire and classified into three groups: none (0 g/day), medium (<195 g/day), and high (>195 g/day). Overweight or obesity at 1 year of age in offspring was defined as having a body mass index z-score greater than 2 standard deviations, calculated based on the body mass index reference data for Japanese children. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the associations between SSB intake before and during pregnancy and offspring overweight/obesity, after adjusting for covariates. Participants: Japanese mother-offspring pairs (n = 7114). Results: The overweight/obesity rate of the offspring was 8.8%. Pregnant women with a high intake of SSB in early to mid-pregnancy had a higher risk of overweight/obesity in their offspring compared to those who did not; the odds ratio was 1.52 (95% confidence interval, 1.09-2.12). Conclusions: High SSB intake in early to mid-pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of offspring overweight/obesity at 1 year of age.