SATURDAY August 2, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- Published in Leukemia research 2008 Nov;32(11):1709-14, a study found women who had a baby with birth weight equal to or more than 4.5 kilograms were three times more likely to have leukemia.

For the study, Paltiel O and colleagues from Hadassah-Hebrew University in Israel looked at data from the Jerusalem Perinatal Study and the Israel Cancer Registry to see if there is an association between children’s birth weight and risk of leukemia in their mothers.

Early studies have linked birth weight and childhood leukemia, according to the background information in the study report. But the association between a child's birth weight and parental risk of leukemia remains unknown.   The study was meant to shed some light on the possible link.

The researchers suggest that potential mechanisms include shared exposure of high birth weight children and their mothers to possibly radiation or growth factors or some genetic pathway leading to high birth weight and high risk of leukemia.