Offspring of mothers who have heart-healthy lifestyles live nearly a decade longer without heart disease than individuals whose mothers’ lifestyles are unhealthy. Findings suggest that mothers are the primary gatekeepers of their children’s health and this type of maternal influence persists into the adulthood of their offspring. The cardiovascular health of mothers and fathers is determined on the basis of seven factors: whether or not they smoked, their diet, whether or not they were physically active, as well as body mass index, blood pressure, blood cholesterol and blood glucose.

Offspring of mothers with ideal cardiovascular health live about nine more years free of cardiovascular disease than those whose mothers have poor cardiovascular health. Poor cardiovascular health among mothers is linked with twice the chance of early onset cardiovascular disease among their offspring compared to those whose mothers cardiovascular health is ideal. The heart health of fathers doesn’t have a statistically significant effect on how long their offspring lived without cardiovascular disease.

Sons are more affected than daughters by a mother’s unhealthy lifestyle which is because sons usually have more unfavorable lifestyle habits than daughters, making the situation even worse. 

The strong contribution of mothers is likely a combination of health status during pregnancy and environment in early life. If mothers have diabetes or hypertension during pregnancy, those risk factors get imprinted in their children at a very early age. In addition, women are often the primary caregivers and the main role model for behaviors. However, individuals can take charge of their own health. People who inherit a high risk from their mother can reduce that risk by exercising and eating well. If they don’t, the risk will be multiplied.

Source:
J.M. Muchira et al, “Parental cardiovascular health predicts time to onset of cardiovascular disease in offspring. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, November 2020. doi:10.1093/eurjpc/zwaa072.