Moms' weight and babies' weight
|
|
From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
Moms who gain too much weight during pregnancy may have babies that are oversize, too. Researchers saw it in birth records from Michigan and New Jersey from 1989 through 2003.
Researcher David Ludwig of Children's Hospital Boston:
``Among the women in the highest categories of pregnancy weight gain, the risk of having a high birth weight baby was increased by two- to threefold.'' (9 seconds)
Ludwig says babies do need some fat. But he says babies who are born heavy have a higher risk of growing up obese and with other health problems. He advises pregnant women to watch what they eat and how much they're active, to help their health and their baby's.
The study in the journal The Lancet was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Learn more at hhs.gov.
HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.