News of a 14-pound, two-ounce baby girl born last week in Salem begged the question: had she set a state record?

The answer? No, not even close – but several years ago, she could have been a contender.

Between 1989 and 2004, no baby born in Oregon reached 14 pounds at birth, according to the state

.

Then in 2005, a newborn baby boy and girl both topped 14 pounds. In 2007, a baby girl took it up a notch, checking in at 15 pounds and nearly 7 ounces.

In 2008, Oregon set a record since 1989 of three babies born weighing more than 14 pounds, including a 15-pound girl and another girl who came in a shade under 17 pounds – 16 pounds and 15.99 ounces, which remains the state's largest baby on modern record.

The year 2009 brought three more newborns of 14 pounds and above; in 2010, two more, and the first five months of this year -- two more, including one 16-pound, 12-ounce girl.

Oregon is not alone. Nationwide, larger babies had been chalked up to improved nutrition, but the trend has become a source of worry, according to Katherine Bradley, heads Oregon's

.

"They're called big babies," she says, "it's something we're very concerned about in the maternal health community."

Portland has been involved with some of the cutting-edge research on the link between prenatal health and subsequent disease.

Bradley cites the work of Dr. David Barker, a professor who splits his time between

and the

in England. For decades now, Barker has

, a connection widely accepted today. Research shows obese or diabetic mothers more likely to have large babies, and more likely to develop gestational diabetes while pregnant. That in turn makes the mothers a higher risk for diabetes down the road, according to Bradley.

Meanwhile, the large babies themselves face a higher risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and stroke later in life.

Health professionals are trying to change conventional wisdom for weight gain during pregnancy. In 2009, the

for weight gain during pregnancy, suggesting mothers who are already obese gain no more than 15 pounds, for instance.

But while diabetes or obesity in the mother may increase the probability of having a large baby, healthy, normal-weight mothers have them, too.

Statistics of the four largest babies each year since 1989 shows that since 2005, only two mothers of the more than two dozen largest babies suffered from chronic diabetes, according to the Center for Health Statistics. And the list shows only about half of the mothers in the last four years as overweight or obese.

Even as the size of the very largest babies has gone up in Oregon, the frequency of big-baby births has not. According to the state, "high birthweight" babies – meaning more than about 9 pounds, 15 ounces -- have dropped from 2 percent of all recorded births in 2000 to 1.6 percent in 2008.

Why is unclear, says

, director of quality and safety for women and infants at OHSU. But some early studies are looking at whether a high-fat diet for mothers may lead to large babies. "It's something that people are trying to understand a little more," she says.

Some of the work is happening at OHSU. Barker, who this summer will receive the

, and another OHSU professor,

, are co-organizers of an international conference on prenatal health in Portland scheduled for September.