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Objective:Obesity is a risk factor for severe complications and death from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Public health efforts to control the pandemic may alter health behaviors related to weight gain, inflammation, and poor cardiometabolic health, exacerbating the prevalence of obesity, poor immune health, and chronic diseases.Design:We reviewed how the pandemic adversely influences many of these behaviors, specifically physical activity, sedentary behaviors, sleep, and dietary intakes, and provided individual level strategies that may be used to mitigate them.Results:At the community level and higher, public health and health care professionals need to advocate for intervention strategies and policy changes that address these behaviors, such as increasing nutrition assistance programs and creating designated areas for recreation and active transportation, to reduce disparities among vulnerable populations.Conclusions:The long-lasting impact of the pandemic on health behaviors, and the possibility of a second COVID-19 wave, emphasize the need for creative and evolving, multi-level approaches to assist individuals in adapting their health behaviors to prevent both chronic and infectious diseases.

To determine how gestational weight gain (GWG), categorized using the 2009 Institute of Medicine recommendations, relates to changes in offspring weight-for-age (WAZ), length-for-age (LAZ) and weight-for-length z-scores (WLZ) between early infancy and 3 years.Women with singleton infants were recruited from the third cohort of the Pregnancy, Infection, and Nutrition Study (2001-2005). Term infants with at least one weight or length measurement during the study period were included (n = 476). Multivariable linear mixed effects regression models estimated longitudinal changes in WAZ, LAZ and WLZ associated with GWG.In early infancy, compared with infants of women with adequate weight gain, those of women with excessive weight gains had higher WAZ, LAZ and WLZ. Excessive GWG ≥ 200% of the recommended amount was associated with faster rates of change in WAZ and LAZ and noticeably higher predicted mean WAZ and WLZ that persisted across the study period.GWG is associated with significant differences in offspring anthropometrics in early infancy that persisted to 3 years of age. More longitudinal studies that utilize maternal and paediatric body composition measures are necessary to understand the nature of this association.

Rates of childhood overweight and obesity have increased over the past several decades. Numerous studies show that obesity during childhood is strongly associated with obesity in adolescence and adulthood, as well as the development of chronic conditions. Maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain (GWG) represent modifiable behavioral factors that may influence the development of offspring body composition later in life; however, there are relatively few studies that examine these associations, especially for GWG. We used data from a recent prospective, longitudinal pregnancy cohort, the Pregnancy, Infection, and Nutrition Study (2001-2008), to examine the effects of prepregnancy BMI and GWG according to the 2009 Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendations on offspring anthropometric outcomes within the first 3 years of life. Using multivariable regression analysis we found that the relative body size of infants at 6 months differs by maternal exposure. While both prepregnancy BMI and GWG were positively associated with weight-for-age z-scores (WAZ), only GWG was associated with length-for-age z-scores (LAZ). Prepregnancy overweight/obesity and excessive GWG[greater than or equal to]200% of the IOM recommendations were associated with higher weight-for-length z-scores (WLZ). At 3 years, children of overweight/obese mothers had significantly higher BMI z-scores and increased risk of overweight and obesity ([greater than or equal to]85th percentile and [greater than or equal to]95th percentile, respectively). Children of mothers with excessive GWG also had significantly higher BMI z-scores but only GWG[greater than or equal to]200% of the IOM recommendations was associated with an increased risk of obesity. Results from longitudinal analysis between birth and 3 years were consistent with these findings and revealed higher rates of change in WAZ and WLZ associated with prepregnancy obesity and higher rates of change in WAZ and LAZ with GWG[greater than or equal to]200% of the IOM recommendations. Children of overweight/obese women and women with GWG[greater than or equal to]200% of the IOM recommendations had distinctly higher predicted mean values of WAZ and WLZ that persisted across the study period compared to women in the lower prepregnancy BMI and GWG categories, respectively. These findings suggest a need for intervention efforts that reach women during their reproductive years, prior to becoming pregnant, to decrease fetal exposure to maternal overweight/obesity and excessive GWG.