Although women with a BMI between 35.1 and 40 also were subjected to the same risks, the incidence was notably lower. Indeed, researchers say the lower a woman's BMI, even by just a few points, the lower her risk of problems.
According to Cendergren, the risk of gaining excessive amounts of weight during pregnancy is as detrimental as being very overweight going into the pregnancy.
To learn more about obesity and pregnancy, visit The March of Dimes. Or visit the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for the very latest guidelines on controlling obesity.
Colette Bouchez is an award winning medical journalist with more than twenty years experience. She is the former medical writer for the New York Daily News, and the top selling author of The V Zone, co-author of Getting Pregnant, Your Perfectly Pampered Pregnancy and upcoming book, Your Perfectly Pampered Menopause. Currently a daily medical correspondent for HealthDay News Service/The New York Times Syndicate, and WebMD, her popular consumer health articles appear daily online, as well as in newspapers nationwide and in Europe and Japan. She is a regular contributor to USAToday.com, ABCNews.com, MSNBC.com and more than two dozen radio and television news stations nationwide. She lives in New York City.
Copyright © Colette Bouchez. Permission to republish granted to Pregnancy.org, LLC.
