Women Should Follow Pregnancy Weight Guidelines More Closely

August 28, 2008 -- A study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia suggests that children of mothers who are obese or who gained excessive weight during pregnancy are more likely to be overweight. The findings in this study corroborate findings by Harvard Medical School published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology in April 2007, which observed the same results in children at age 3.

The new study showed that there is an association between excess pregnancy weight gain and the odds that a child will be overweight by the age of 7. It suggested that around half of American women gain more than the current guidelines recommended by the Institute of Medicine, and that the more weight a woman gains, the greater risk of her child becoming overweight.

Current guidelines for weight gain during pregnancy are based on the 1990 IOM report Nutrition During Pregnancy: Part I: Weight Gain, Part II: Nutrient Supplements. It suggests an average weight gain of 25 to 35 pounds during pregnancy for healthy women who are in the normal weight range for their height, and 15 to 25 pounds for women who are overweight. The main goal of these guidelines is to prevent low birth weight and infant mortality. The committee that wrote the report formulated the 1990 guidelines anticipating that they would stimulate additional research and publications on the topic. IOM is currently in the process of re-evaluating these guidelines, with a new report due in early 2009.

• Nutrition During Pregnancy: Part I: Weight Gain, Part II: Nutrient Supplements
• Re-examination of IOM Pregnancy Weight Guidelines

• Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism Study Abstract
• The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Study Publication