Young girls are more likely to become obese if their mothers were overweight before pregnancy and developed gestational diabetes while pregnant, a new study suggests.

Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that develops during pregnancy - most often in the second or third trimester. It usually disappears after the baby is born.

US researchers monitored 421 girls and their mothers from 2005 to 2011. They found that if a mother had gestational diabetes, the child was 3.5 times more likely to be overweight compared to children whose mothers did not develop the condition.

This link was independent of other factors that can influence a child's obesity risk, such as ethnicity and the stage of puberty they are at.

Meanwhile, the study also found that if the mother had been overweight prior to getting pregnant, and also developed gestational diabetes, the child was 5.5 times more likely to be overweight than her peers.

"Glucose levels during pregnancy, particularly gestational diabetes, were associated with the girls being overweight, and this association was much stronger if the mother was also overweight before pregnancy," commented the researchers from the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California.

They said that the study suggests that women should improve their lifestyle and try to maintain a healthy weight before they become pregnant, as well as during pregnancy, as this may help reduce the risk of obesity in their children.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, Diabetes Care.

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