IOM Likely To Reconsider Guidelines For Recommended Weight Gain During Pregnancy

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Also Included In: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 20 Aug 2007 - 6:00 PDT

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The Institute of Medicine this fall is expected to begin gathering scientific evidence to examine guidelines for how much weight pregnant women should gain, according to IOM spokesperson Christine Stencel, the AP/South Coast Standard-Times reports.

According to current guidelines, which IOM announced in 1990, women with low body mass indexes should gain up to 40 pounds during pregnancy, women with normal BMIs should gain 25 to 35 pounds, and most obese women should gain about 15 pounds. In 2003, about 25% of pregnant women in the U.S. gained more than 40 pounds during pregnancy, compared with 20% in 1990, according to the AP/Standard-Times.

According to the March of Dimes, women who gain too much weight during pregnancy have an increased risk of complications, including birth defects, problems during labor and delivery, fetal death and large infants (Yee, AP/South Coast Standard-Times, 8/15). A study published in the April issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, analyzed 1,044 pairs of mothers and their three-year-old children and compared how much weight the mother had gained during pregnancy and the BMI of their children. The study found that women with excessive or adequate weight gain were about four times more likely than women with inadequate weight gain to have a child who was overweight by age three (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 4/6).

According to the AP/Standard-Times, other countries, such as the United Kingdom and France, have similar guidelines as the U.S. Japanese guidelines recommend that women gain 10 pounds less than the IOM-recommended amount.

"The reality is for too long we are telling pregnant women to take it easy during pregnancy, be confined and to eat for two," Raul Artal of St. Louis University School of Medicine said, adding, "This has been one factor in causing the epidemic of overweight and obesity" in the U.S. Naomi Stotland from the University of California-San Francisco said some experts are concerned that if women are encouraged to gain less weight during pregnancy, they will not gain enough weight.

Experts said that women should follow current IOM guidelines until new guidelines are announced, the AP/Standard-Times reports (AP/South Coast Standard-Times, 8/15).

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