Health & Medicine

Pregnancy: Excessive Weight Gain Linked To Health Problems

Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Oct 23, 2015 12:35 PM EDT

New findings published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition show that excessive weight gain during pregnancy could hold long-term health problems for mothers-to-be. 

Findings revealed that high gestational weight gain was linked to 3 percent higher body fat and 12 pounds greater weight at seven years following delivery. However, for a pre pregnancy BMI of 30 (obese), excessive pregnancy weight gain was also linked to a significantly higher body fat or weight at seven years.

"The findings ... suggest that normal and modestly overweight women may be more physiologically sensitive to effects of high gestational weight gain and, therefore, need to be further supported to gain weight appropriately during pregnancy," researcher Elizabeth Widen said.

During the study, researchers collected and analyzed data on over 300 African-American or Dominican mothers enrolled in the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health Mothers and Newborns Study in Northern Manhattan and the South Bronx from 1998 to 2013.

Before pregnancy, 5 percent of the African-American and Dominican women studied were underweight, 53 percent were normal weight, 20 percent of overweight, and 22 percent were obese. Overall, a majority of mothers (64 percent) gained more weight during pregnancy than recommended by the 2009 Institute of Medicine Guidelines, (IOM) and 38 percent were obese seven years later.

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