PBRC Executive Director assists in development of new pregnancy weight guidelines - 06.16.2009

The last time U.S. public health officials announced guidelines for gaining weight during pregnancy was nearly 20 years ago (1990). With a concern toward the increased obesity and overweightness of Americans in general, the Institute of Medicine gathered experts from across the nation to review those guidelines and update if necessary.

Claude Bouchard, Ph.D., Executive Director and holder of the George A. Bray, Jr. Endowed Super Chair in Nutrition, was asked to join the review committee to bring his expertise in genetics, epigenetics, in utero programming, and physical activity.

“What we learned is the 1990 guidelines were pretty good,” Bouchard said, ”our changes are refinements, primarily to include the increasing number of obese women who are becoming pregnant and to avoid complications for these mothers and their newborn.”

The new guidelines establish a range of pregnancy weight gain for women who fall into one of four pre-pregnancy weight classes based on Body Mass Index (BMI): underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese. For example, a normal weight female (18.5 to 24.9 BMI) would want to keep her weight gain within 25 to 35 pounds. An obese woman, on the other hand, (BMI > 30) would need to keep her weight gain within 11 to 20 pounds.

“This is a balancing act,” Bouchard said, “between guarding the health of the mother and the baby.” Learn more about the Pennington Biomedical’s research regarding in utero programming and find discover your own unique BMI by visiting www.pbrc.edu. Click on “Quick Links” in the left-hand menu to locate PBRC’s BMI calculator.

He said obesity during pregnancy can lead to increased chance of large babies, increase frequency of c-section, and post-pregnancy weight retention among other complications.

The complete report, as well as summaries are available at www.iom.edu or www.iom.edu/pregnancyweightgain.

For More Information Contact:
Glen Duncan
225-763-2599
glen.duncan@pbrc.edu
http://www/pbrc.edu