Women who gain too much weight during their pregnancies tend to have heavier babies who are at a higher risk for adult obesity. In Thursday’s online issue of the medical journal “The Lancet”, a study of 513,000 American women took place which supports these findings.
"Since high birth weight, in turn, increases risk for obesity and diseases such as cancer and asthma later in life, these findings have important implications to general public health," said the study's co-author Dr. David Ludwig.
So, what’s the best thing for pregnant women to do to prevent their baby from becoming obese later in life? Improve their diet and add a little bit of exercise so as not to gain an excess amount of weight.
That's right, pregnant women have to curb their unhealthy pregnancy cravings – what a bummer!
Below are Health Canada’s guidelines on pregnancy weight gain:
– Women with a body mass index or BMI of less than 18.5 prior to pregnancy, which is considered underweight: recommended range of total weight gain is between 28 and 40 pounds.
– Women in the normal weight category with a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9: recommended range of total weight gain from 25 to 35 pounds.
– Overweight women with a pre-pregnancy BMI between 25 and 29.9: total recommended weight gain between 15 and 25 pounds.
– Obese women with a pre-pregnancy BMI of greater than 30: advised to gain no more than 11 to 20 pounds during pregnancy.
