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Large Pregnancy Weight Gains May Increase Child's Obesity Risk, Study Funds (Medical
News Today-10 August 2010)

Women who gain a high level of weight during pregnancy are more likely than women who gain
less weight to give birth to high-birthweight infants, which can increase the infants' likelihood of
eventually becoming obese, a new study published in the Lancet found, USA Today reports
(Hellmich, USA Today, 8/5).

The study analyzed natality records for more than 513,000 women and more than 1.1 million
infants born during a 15-year span in New Jersey and Michigan. To reduce the role of genetics in
assessing the links between pregnancy weight gain, birthweight and eventual obesity in the
infant, researchers studied birth records for women who gave birth to more than one child. The
methodology allowed researchers to consider different pregnancy weight gains for the same
women.

Researchers determined that women who gained more than 53 pounds during pregnancy were
twice as likely to give birth to infants heavier than 8.8 pounds -- considered to be high
birthweight -- as women who gained between 18 and 22 pounds.

The most recent guidelines from the Institute of Medicine suggest that women considered to be
of healthy weight gain between 25 to 35 pounds during pregnancy, that overweight women gain
between 15 and 25 pounds, and that obese women -- who represent 27% of women of
childbearing age -- gain between 11 and 20 pounds (Elton, Time, 8/5). Roughly one-third of U.S.
women of "normal" weight and half of overweight and obese women gain more than their
physicians recommend during pregnancy (Cheng, AP/Google News, 8/4).

Study Has Limitations

Experts caution that the study had multiple limitations. The study did not consider women's pre-
pregnancy weight, instead solely focusing on their weight gain during pregnancy. Researchers
also did not assess the birth composition of the infants, such as whether a child had more lean
mass or fat. The study did not consider that longer babies might have higher birth weights, and it
did not follow children after birth to see if they became obese.

Experts also note that high birthweight is "at best a proxy for potential obesity," according to
Time (Time, 8/5). While researchers have observed for decades that children with high
birthweights are more likely to gain weight later in life, further studies may be needed to
establish the link between gestational weight gain and childhood obesity (USA Today, 8/5).
According to Anna Maria Sieg-Rix, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the University
of North Carolina, "What this study says is that high maternal weight gain leads to high
birthweight. And that's where this study's conclusions need to stop" (Time, 8/5).