Weighting for baby

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-20 09:11

Elena Nieves hardly looks like a poster girl for an obesity program for pregnant moms. The 1.7-m 23-year-old recently lost more than 23 kg and is now a picture of health but 15 weeks into her third pregnancy, she was gaining the weight - too fast.

"I found out I was pregnant in December. I didn't go to the doctor until mid-January and I had already gained 7 kg," she says. Having struggled with her weight during a previous pregnancy, she decided to take action.

Nieves became the newest member of an experimental program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago designed to help pregnant mothers keep their weight in check.

It is based on new research that suggests excessive weight gain in pregnancy hurts both the mother and fetus, raising the risk of complications during pregnancy and putting the child at risk for obesity and diabetes later in life.

"We've known for a long time that children of overweight mothers are more likely to be overweight themselves," says Dr Robert Kushner, who directs the Northwestern Comprehensive Center on Obesity.

But he says researchers had assumed that was simply because the mother passed along her bad eating and lifestyle habits to her child after birth. Now, animal studies suggest the environment the fetus grows in influences its genes.

"As that child comes out of the birth canal, you've already imprinted that child's vulnerability to be overweight," Kushner says. "It's like being born with handcuffs on. In this environment, how do they have a fighting chance?"

The growing obesity epidemic in the US now affects a third of adults and nearly 17 percent of children. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates nearly one quarter of the country's annual 4 million births involve obese women.

Obesity raises the risk for diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, osteoarthritis, stroke, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea, respiratory problems and even some cancers.

A 2000 report by the US Surgeon General estimated the direct and indirect cost of obesity at $117 billion each year.

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