Parental obesity and risk of metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease in adult offspring: UK birth cohort study.

Pre-pregnancy parental obesity significantly increases the risk of adult offspring MASLD, with a 3.73-fold higher odds when both parents are overweight or obese.

• Why it matters: Understanding early-life risk factors for MASLD is crucial because it is the most common chronic liver disease globally, often originating in childhood, yet the roles of both parents' adiposity remain unclear.
• What they did: The study analyzed 1933 UK offspring at age 24, assessing parental BMI before pregnancy and offspring MASLD, with causal mediation analysis to evaluate childhood adiposity's role.
• The result: Excess parental adiposity was linked to higher MASLD risk in offspring, with 67% of this effect mediated by childhood BMI, suggesting interventions targeting childhood weight could reduce future disease risk.