Study of mothers and their Vitamin D intake

NBC NATIONAL NEWS — Chunky baby legs and cheeks are a normal part of infancy, but when the baby fat lingers into childhood the risk for overweight and obesity rises.

Now doctors say a mother's Vitamin D status during pregnancy may be related to her child's weight.

Researchers in the UK studied nearly one thousand pregnant women. Researchers looked at their Vitamin D levels and then tracked their childrens' weight.

Scientists found women with low Vitamin D levels had children with more body fat when they were six years old.

The overweight risk remained even after researchers took other factors into account, like a mother's weight gain during pregnancy and the childrens' physical activity levels.

The researchers say a link between low Vitamin D and obesity has been established in children and adults, but this is one of the first studies to show the risk could start before children are born.