It's the correct weight gain that matters in pregnancy
Too much is just as unfavourable as too little - at least regarding weight gain during pregnancy. Both appear to increase the likelihood of having overweight children. This is the conclusion of a US study that was published in the "American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology".
For their study, the researchers used data from 4,145 women who had taken part in a health survey between 2007 and 2009 and subsequently given birth to a baby. Medical records of those children aged between two and five were evaluated. The goal was to find a potential association between the Institute of Medicine's weight recommendations during pregnancy and childhood obesity.
Reviewing the data showed that 20.4 percent of those children born to women who gained more than the recommended weight during pregnancy were overweight or obese. Among women who gained less than recommended amount the share was 19.5 percent, and in women who gained weight within the recommendations 14.5 percent of the children were overweight or obese.
Particularly notable were the variations among women who had a normal BMI prior to being pregnant: those women who gained less than the recommended amount had a 63 percent higher likelihood of having a child who became overweight or obese. And women who gained more weight than recommended were 80 percent more likely to have an overweight child.
According to the researchers, the marked association found among normal weight women suggests that weight gain in pregnancy has an impact on the child that is independent of genetic factors. They assume that too little or too much weight gain in pregnancy may affect the offspring's mechanisms of appetite control and energy expenditure.
Univadis
