Maternal obesity, gestational weight gain, and childhood growth in the first year of life

Abstract

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions among women of childbearing age. Prepregnancy obesity and inappropriate gestational weight gain (GWG) have detrimental consequences for maternal health, birth outcomes, and infant growth in the first year of life. Dietary interventions during pregnancy have a modest, although significant, impact on GWG, but their long-term impact is unknown. Studies of interventions to reduce obesity prior to pregnancy are limited, but these interventions have the potential to address modifiable behavioral, social, and environmental factors that may predispose women and their infants to excessive weight gain and to establish healthy trajectories in weight for both.