EFN

The climb in obesity rates has inspired new guidelines for how much, or for that matter how little,  weight heavier women should gain when pregnant. The US Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council now suggest obese women restrict their weight gain to 11 to 20 pounds during pregnancy.

The new guidelines, which update a 1990 report by the Institute of Medicine, are based on revised body mass index categories. For the first time, it gives a guidelines for women with a BMI of larger than 30, which is thought to be obese.

The primary reason of the new recommendations is to spotlight the importance of attaining a sound weight even before conception.  Healthy mothers are less likely to get high blood pressure as well as gestational diabetes and are less likely to require a C-section delivery.

The women are promoted to only gain between 11 to 20 pounds. That’s approximately half of what women of average weight are suggested to gain. Average weight women should gain between 25 and 35 pounds. Overweight women should gain 15 to 25 pounds. And underweight women should gain between 28 and 40 pounds.

Obesity and other body-weight categories are determined by a ratio of height to weight called the body mass index.

The least risks related with pregnancy are when healthy women with a normal BMI at conception follow the appropriate weight gain guidelines. However the findings also points out the fact that more women are getting pregnant at an older age and run the added risks associated with chronic conditions for example hypertension and diabetes, among others. These and other factors led to the new guidelines