S Norris University of the Witwatersrand Health and wellbeing of female adolescents and young adults

In South Africa, a generation of adolescents and young adults is gaining weight faster than their mothers did, and researchers are tracking how this shift passes metabolic disease risk to their children. This matters because sub-Saharan Africa faces a double burden: poor maternal nutrition and childhood stunting on one side, and rising adolescent and adult obesity on the other. The combination increases the risk of type-2 diabetes and metabolic disease in the next generation. Current knowledge cannot predict how weight gain during adolescence—a critical window for metabolic development—affects pregnancy outcomes and the long-term health of offspring. The researchers will study two generations: contemporary urban and rural South African adolescents and young adults (generation 1) and their children (generation 2). They will measure how weight gain in the mother during her teenage years influences her risk of gestational diabetes and, in turn, her child’s future disease risk. If successful, this work could reshape public health guidance on adolescent nutrition and weight management in low- and middle-income countries. It may also inform when and how to screen for diabetes risk in young pregnant women, potentially breaking the intergenerational cycle of metabolic disease before it becomes entrenched.