Pregnancy Weight Gain and Obesity

As of Thursday, the National Research Council and The Institute of Medicine have delivered amended U.S. weight-gain precepts for obese expecting mothers, in accordance with reports of accelerated levels of country-wide obesity. The New York Times also disclosed that there is increased evidence that significant weight gain in pregnancy can forego serious health issues for mothers and their babies. The new guidelines, as the first revision in 10+ years, advises that severely overweight women, meaning those measuring a BMI of 30 or more, should restrict their weight gain to 11-20 lbs over the term of the pregnancy.

The past guidelines did not discuss weight gain in obese women specifically, rather stating for them to turn to the medical counseling for overweight women. Health authorities report that the amendments to the guidelines for overweight women were necessary to go with the flow of developing weight criterion within female groups in the country.

According to the Times, around 27% of child-bearing age women are obese, whereas 55% are between the measure of being obese or overweight.  The guidelines of women under a BMI of 30 stayed resolute. The guideline for overweight women or those with a BMI of 25 to 29.9 is to accrue 15 to 25 pounds during pregnancy, while women of underweight characteristics or with BMIs of less than 18.5 should advance 28 to 40 pounds, and standard, healthy-weight women with BMIs of 18.6 to 24.9 should achieve 25 to 35 pounds, again according to the Times.

Time states that expectant women who do not exhibit a healthy weight gain are at risk for early delivery and underweight infants. Nonetheless, it is far more customary for mothers to have too much weight gain, putting them in greater risk for medical conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes, as well as placing their newborns in a risky state of premature delivery, with also the chance of abnormal delivery via cesarean. Disproportionate weight increases can also raise the chance of obesity after birth, and include higher possibilities of stroke and heart disease, in that most women find pregnancy weight gain impossible to lose.

Other studies have mused on the chance that a woman’s pregnancy weight gain can be a prelude to obesity issues in her children, according to Time.  Health authorities have announced their disappointment with the new amendments, stating that severely overweight women should be advised to gain absolutely no weight during their term, and that the new guidelines do not do enough to help battle obesity prior to pregnancy.

Maxine Hayes, health officer out of Washington State Department of Health says, “If we wait for every woman to be advised about weight gain after they become pregnant, it’s too late. It puts women and their babies on a trajectory that is unhealthy.