Study: Severely Obese Women Should Lose Weight During Pregnancy

Women who are severely obese should lose weight while pregnant according to new research by Saint Louis University. The study, which indicates obese women should limit weight gain and severely obese women should lose weight, runs counter to current wisdom that recommends a minimum gain of 15 pounds.

The study looked at the data surrounding the pregnancies of over 120,000 obese women in the state of Missouri. It was the largest population based study to examine the affect of weight gain while pregnant according to the author of the study, Raul Artal, M.D. and chairman of the department of obstetrics, gynecology and women's health at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

Research focused on cesarean delivery, birth size, and preeclampsia (high blood pressure as a result of pregnancy). The study found that obese women who gained less than 15 pounds during pregnancy were had a reduced chance of developing preeclampsia or needing a cesarean delivery. The women who limited weight gain also were more likely to have a normal weight baby.

The Institute of Medicine in 1990 recommended that all women gain at least 15 pounds during pregnancy and did not have a maximum recommended weight gain. However, Dr. Artal called the reasons for that recommendation into question.

"Guidelines for nutrition during pregnancy at that time were based solely on expert opinion and not on scientific data. Obesity was not the problem it is now," Dr. Artal said in a press release detailing the findings of his study.

The findings for the study conducted by Dr. Artal indicated that the weight of the woman should determine the amount of weight she should gain or lose during pregnancy.

"This study confirms what we've suspected all along -- that obese women don't have to gain any weight during their pregnancy," Dr. Artal explained in the press release.

"Obese and overweight women should gain very little weight at all," he continued.

Dr. Artal believes that pregnancy, especially multiple pregnancies, play a role in the growing amount of overweight and obese women. In Missouri, the state where he conducted the study, over 50 percent of the women are overweight or obese.

"It's been shown in the literature time and time again," he said in the press release. "Weight gain increases in subsequent pregnancies because women accumulate weight with each pregnancy and don't lose it."

SOURCES: "Stop eating for two: obese moms-to-be should gain less weight than currently recommended." Eurekalert. URL:(http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-10/slu-sef100107.php)