Physical activity during pregnancy and association with changes in fat mass and adipokines in women of normal-weight or with obesity

Adipose tissue and adipokine concentrations change markedly during pregnancy, but the effects of physical activity on these changes are rarely studied. We aimed to assess physical activity levels in pregnant women of normal-weight (NW) or with obesity (OB), and to determine the relation with changes in fat mass and adipokines. In each trimester, pregnant women (136 NW, 51 OB) were interviewed about their physical activity and had their body composition, leptin, soluble leptin receptor (sOB-R) and adiponectin determined. NW reported higher activity and more aerobic exercise than OB during early pregnancy. Both groups maintained training frequency but reduced overall activity as pregnancy progressed. NW women reporting aerobic and/or resistance exercise and OB women reporting aerobic exercise had greater sOB-R increases (independent of BMI or gestational weight gain). In NW, exercise also associated with lower fat mass and leptin increases. Higher activity levels associated with lower gestational weight gain in both groups. The relationship between physical activity and adiponectin differed between NW and OB. Maternal exercise may partly mediate its beneficial effects through regulation of leptin bioavailability, by enhancing pregnancy-induced increases in sOB-R. This could be of particular importance in OB with pre-gestational hyperleptinemia and leptin resistance.