PURPOSE Excess weight gain during pregnancy is a serious health concern among young pregnant women in the US. This study aimed to characterize young women at highest risk for gaining over the recommended amount of weight during pregnancy. METHODS Using a database that is representative of births in large U.S. cities, The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we identified mothers of sin...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the impact of excess pregnancy weight gain and failure to lose weight by 6 months postpartum on excess weight 8-10 years later. METHODS Seven hundred ninety-five women were observed through pregnancy and 6 months postpartum to examine factors that affect weight loss. Weight was recorded 10 years later through a medical record review to examine the impact of retained weig...

BACKGROUND There is a rising prevalence of excessive weight gain in pregnancy and an increasing number of pregnant women who are overweight or obese at the start of the pregnancy. Excessive weight gain during pregnancy is associated with adverse maternal and neonatal consequences and increases the risk of long-term obesity. Pregnancy therefore may be a key time to prevent excessive weight gain ...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate if pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) determines blood pressure throughout pregnancy and to explore the role of gestational weight gain in this association. In addition, the effects of pre-pregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain on the occurrence of gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia were investigated. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING Maternal and c...

OBJECTIVE To examine pregnant women's weight-related attitudes and behaviors in relation to a constellation of psychosocial characteristics, prepregnancy body habitus, and gestational weight gain. PARTICIPANTS One hundred-thirty women with low-risk, normal pregnancies. DESIGN Cross-sectional, observational study assessed attitudes about weight gain at 36 weeks' gestation. Psychosocial chara...

The aim of this review was to develop a framework for the monitoring of pregnancy weight gain in South African outpatient clinics. Studies showed that intrauterine malnutrition have more serious consequences for children than postnatal malnutrition. Undernutrition, as well as overnutrition during pregnancy, was associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. The IOM published recommended weight gai...

BACKGROUND Results of experimental studies suggest that deviations in gut microbiota composition predispose to excessive energy storage and obesity. The mother influences the original inoculum and the development of infant microbiota, which in turn is associated with later weight gain. OBJECTIVE We characterized the gut microbiota in women according to their body mass index (BMI) and the effe...

Multivitamin supplementation has been shown to reduce the risk of low birthweight. This effect could be mediated through gestational weight gain. However, the effect of multivitamin supplementation on weight gain during pregnancy has not been fully studied. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of multivitamins on pregnancy weight gain. We enrolled 8468 HIV-negative women from ...