Linking obesity-associated genotype to child language development: the role of early-life neurology-related proteomics and brain myelination.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The association between childhood obesity and language development may be confounded by socio-environmental factors and attributed to comorbid pathways.

Methods

In a longitudinal Singaporean mother-offspring cohort, we leveraged trans-ancestry polygenic predictions of body mass index (BMI) to interrogate the causal effects of early-life BMI on child language development and its effects on molecular and neuroimaging measures. Leveraging large genome-wide association studies, we examined whether the link between obesity and language development is causal or due to a shared genetic basis.

Findings

We found an inverse association between polygenic risk for obesity, which is less susceptible to confounding, and language ability assessed at age 9. Our findings su

SUBMITTER: Huang J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11868953 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature