If some young mothers manage to lose the extra pounds of pregnancy very quickly, others are not so lucky. Excess weight during pregnancy lasts for life. This is the rather sharp conclusion of researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York (United States), published on October 21 in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Risk of obesity increased by 400% 7 years later
The scientists used data from more than 300 African American and Dominican mothers who participated in the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health Mothers and Newborns study, conducted between 1998 and 2013.
The profile of these women was selected because they presented a risk of overweight or obesity. Before becoming pregnant, 5% of them were too thin, 53% normal, 20% overweight and 22% obese. During pregnancy, 64% of volunteers exceeded the recommended weight limit and 38% were obese 7 years later.
Among women who were not obese before pregnancy, those who gained too much pregnant weight had a increased risk of obesity by almost 400%, seven years after childbirth. Even more marked effects in women of normal weight and underweight before pregnancy.
Women of normal weight: 5.5 kg gain after 7 years
The team demonstrated that significant weight gain in a woman of normal build was associated with a 3% increase in body fat and a gain of 5.5 kg 7 years later.
“Our results suggest that women of normal and modest weight may be physiologically more sensitive to the effects of high gestational weight gain and therefore need more support to gain appropriate weight during pregnancy,” says Elizabeth. Widen, co-author of the study.
Pregnancy: 47% of women exceed recommended weight
“Excess weight during pregnancy, if it is more than what the IOM (Institute Of Medicine) recommends has long-term consequences on health problems related to weight”.
In the United States, the IOM advises a weight gain of between 11 and 15 kg for a woman of normal build and 6 to 11 kg for an overweight woman. 47% of women exceed recommendations.
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