Excessive Gestational Weight Gain: Too Much of a Good Thing?

Although there is little doubt that we are in the midst of an obesity epidemic, not all contributing factors are known. As part of an ongoing, prospective, prebirth cohort study, researchers evaluated the effect of maternal gestational weight gain on child adiposity at age 3 among 1044 mothers of singleton infants who received prenatal care at a multispecialty group practice in Massachusetts.

Gestational weight gain was categorized as inadequate, adequate, or excessive according to 1990 published guidelines from the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Compared with previous recommendations, these guidelines generally allow greater weight gain during pregnancy to promote fetal growth. The guidelines allow gains of 11.5–16.0 kg for women with normal …