Pregnancy, Obesity and Birth Defects
It never ceases to amaze me how much our lifestyle has an affect on our overall heath, fertility, and pregnancy outcomes. This article talks about how being obese prior to pregnancy can increase the chance of birth defects.For more on pregnancy over 40, environmental factors, foods for fertility and more at getpregnantover40.com
Although the exact reasons for birth defects are unclear, the article does state that women who are obese tend to have more chronic health conditions, menstruation problems and more pregnancy complications Read more:
Mothers of babies born with some structural birth defectsincluding missing limbs, malformed hearts and underdeveloped spinal cordsappear more likely to be obese prior to becoming pregnant than mothers whose children are born without such defects, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Overweight and obese women are known to be at risk for chronic diseases, infertility, irregular menstruation and complications during pregnancy, according to background information in the article. In 2003 and 2004, about 51 percent of women aged 20 to 39 were classified as overweight or obese.
D. Kim Waller, Ph.D., of the University of Texas, Houston, and colleagues interviewed 10,249 women in eight states whose babies were born with birth defects between 1997 and 2002. The women were contacted between six weeks and 24 months after the babys birth and asked for their height and weight before pregnancy, along with other demographic and medical information. These women were compared with 4,065 women who had babies without birth defects during the same time period.
Mothers of babies with the following seven of 16 birth defects were more likely to be obese than mothers of infants without birth defects
from news.bio-medicine.org
