South Asians have a greater risk of coronary heart disease than Europeans and this may be linked to their greater susceptibility to type 2 diabetes. Infants of mothers who had high levels of blood glucose, or were diabetic during pregnancy, are more obese and prone to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. It is not clear whether this explains the increased disease risk in South Asians.
We will compare levels of body fat and risk factors between 1000 infants born to European mothers and 1000 born to Pakistani mothers and relate mother’s glucose in pregnancy to these outcomes.