Diet for Overweight and Obese Pregnant Women
Overweight or obese women are at high risk of developing serious health complications during pregnancy. Excessive gestational weight gain can increase the risk of developing diabetes, preeclampsia, and birth defects. However, these complications can be sidestepped by safely restricting gestational weight gain through proper nutritional management.
How being overweight or obese can impact pregnancy?
Being overweight (BMI: 25 – 29.9) or obese (BMI: ≥30) can associate with several risk factors, especially during pregnancy. The major health problems include gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, sleep apnea, and birth defects.
Women with gestational diabetes, as well as their babies, are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. It also significantly increases the chance of cesarean delivery. Similarly, preeclampsia, which is defined as having a very high blood pressure, can cause serious health complications, such as liver and kidney failure. It can also lead to seizures (eclampsia) and stroke.
The risk of developing preeclampsia can be increased by sleep apnea during pregnancy.
Which is characterized by interrupted breathing during sleep. Sleep apnea can lead to lung and heart disorders, in addition to causing extreme fatigue.
Obesity can also put the baby at risk. Obese women are at higher risk of miscarriage than normal-weight women. Moreover, obesity is associated with premature birth, stillbirth, prolonged labor, and excessive blood loss after delivery. Another common problem obese women face is having babies with high birth weight (macrosomia). Such babies are more susceptible to become obese in the future. Furthermore, babies born to obese mothers have a higher risk of developing birth defects, including neural tube defects.
How overweight/obese women can have a healthy pregnancy
A high gestational weight gain is the main cause of ยูฟ่าเบท obesity relate complications. More than 50% of obese women gain weight in excess. Which is significantly higher than the existing gestational weight gain guidelines. Apart from pregnancy-related complications, excessive weight gain can increase the risk of postpartum weight retention, which is considered to be the major causative factor for obesity epidemic among women. According to the Institute of Medicine, USA, healthy weight, overweight, and obese women should restrict the gestational weight gain to 11.5 – 16 kg, 7 – 11.5 kg, and 5 – 9 kg, respectively.