The effects of type of exercise during pregnancy on infant morphometric measurements

PURPOSE: Research suggests that aerobic exercise may produce beneficial morphometric outcomes, decreased adiposity, for the infant. However, little research has been done on the influence of other maternal exercise types at recommended exercise levels on infant morphometric outcomes, specifically at one-month. The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of aerobic, resistance, and combination training at recommended guideline levels during pregnancy on one-month-old infant body composition, including body fat percentage, BMI, and fat-free mass. METHODS: Participants were randomized into four groups, resistance (n=16), aerobic (n=40), combination (n=18) and non-exercising control (n=34) and performed 150 minutes/week of supervised exercise from 16 weeks gestation until delivery. At one month of age, body composition measurements including skinfolds, circumferences, and BMI were assessed. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between groups regarding infant body fat percentage, infant BMI, and infant fat-free mass. However, when controlling for Gravida and Pre-pregnancy BMI, a significant difference was found in infant body fat percentage between the aerobic (12.1%) and control (14.3%) groups (p=0.02) and the aerobic (12.1%) and combination (15.9%) groups (p=0.003) CONCLUSION: Aerobic exercise appears to have the most beneficial outcomes on infant body fat percentage. However, additional research should be done with more reliable measurement techniques such as MRI for infant fat-free mass