If you're pregnant, then you may want to watch what you eat and how much. It turns out that too much or too little weight gain during pregnancy can increase the risk of having an overweight or obese child.
In order to find out how weight might affect pregnancy, the scientists reviewed electronic health records of 4,145 racially diverse female members of Kaiser Permanente in Northern California who had completed a health survey between 2007 and 2009 and then subsequently had had a baby. The researchers then reviewed the medical records of these children between the ages of two and five years old.
So what did they find? It turns out that of the women who gained more than the recommended amount of weight during pregnancy, 20.4 percent had children who were overweight or obese, compared with 19.5 percent in women who gained less than the recommended amount of weight. That's a huge rise from the 14.5 percent of children who were overweight or obese who were born of mothers who gained the recommended amount of weight.
In fact, women with a normal Body Mass Index measurement before pregnancy who gained less than the recommended amount of weight were 63 percent more likely to have a child who became overweight or obese. Women who gained more weight than recommended were 80 percent more likely to have an overweight or obese child.
"The stronger association we found among normal weight women who gained too much or too little weight during pregnancy suggests that perhaps weight gain in pregnancy may have an impact on the child that is independent of genetic factors," said Monique M. Hedderson, one of the researchers, in a news release.
The findings reveal how important it is to manage your weight while pregnant. It's not only important to avoid gaining too much weight; it's also important to avoid gaining too little.
"Gaining either too little or too much weight in pregnancy may permanently affect mechanisms that manage energy balance and metabolism in the offspring, such as appetite control and energy expenditure," said Sneha Sridhar, one of the researchers, in a news release. "This could potentially have long-term effects on the child's subsequent growth and weight."
The findings are published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
