Overweight Mothers Give Birth to Newborns with More Body Fat

A study that links mother's weight to their babies was presented for the first time at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting. Study claims that women reside in the U.S. are gaining more body fat and are obese, which is causing their babies to do the same. Person is obese when his or hers body mass index is above 30, while he or she falls into the category of overweight when body mass index is above 25. Normal BMI is between 19 and 24, and bellow 19 a person is considered underweight, which may again cause problems with trying to conceive.

A study collected data for 15 years: from 1990 to 2005, and researchers measured the body mass index of pregnant women and their children. Researchers found a link between mothers who were obese and had an increase in body fat, and their newborns, who were also overweight and whose bodies were composed of more fat. Many studies have proved that obesity is a growing problem worldwide, especially in US. Partly the reason for this the sedentary life most people lead and partly because of the diet they eat. Some of these people with high body mass index are of course women who are trying to conceive. Obesity itself makes it harder for a woman to become pregnant, besides the researchers have found a link between excess weight gain of mother, complications during pregnancy, gestational diabetes and most of all increasing a risk of obese mother s child to develop obesity later in life. According to The Obesity Society studies have found that 1 in every 5 children in the Unites States are considered to have too high body mass index or are considered overweight.

Perhaps there could be more research done to establish the connection with the body mass index of their parents. However, there is no doubt that healthcare providers should pay close attention to the body mass index of women before they get pregnant, and not only that but should also pay attention to how much weight (overweight) women gain during the pregnancy.