Excessive Weight Gain During Pregnancy is Major Contributor to Obesity in U.S.

2001 FEB 15 - (NewsRx.com) -- Women who gain more than the amount recommended during pregnancy are four times more likely to be obese one year after giving birth compared with mothers who gain within the recommended range, said a Cornell University nutritionist.

As a result, she concluded, excessive weight gain in pregnancy is significantly contributing to the skyrocketing levels of obesity in the United States.

The study of weight gain in 577 pregnant women found that more than 40% of women surveyed gained more weight during pregnancy than is recommended by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Furthermore, one-fourth of all the pregnant women studied were at least 10 pounds heavier one year after giving birth.

"I don't think anyone would have guessed that the effects of gestational weight gains are as great as they seem to be," said Christine Olson, Cornell and the lead researcher in the U.S. National Institutes of Health-funded study. "Researchers had thought it was just a minor contributor to the obesity problem in this country."

In the study of childbearing women, obesity was defined as a body mass index (BMI) - a calculation based on the relationship of weight to height - [greater than]29. A BMI of 19.8 to 26 is considered normal. Obesity dramatically increases the risks of chronic health conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

The Institute of Medicine reported that the evidence suggests that having a baby adds an average of 2.2 pounds to a woman's weight a year after giving birth. Olson found women in the study gained an average of almost four pounds. "But even more disturbing," she said, "was the finding that 56% of the new cases of obesity in our study could have been prevented if the women had stayed within the ...