Yo-yo diet warning to mothers

Mothers who diet back their figures after giving birth and put on excess weight during pregnancies are putting their own and their baby’s health at risk, as reported by the BBC.

Fluctuating weight ups the risk of dangerously high blood pressure and diabetes in the mother as well as risking stillbirth, Dublin-based specialists in the British Medical Journal suggest, and reported by the University of Toronto.

One Swedish study involving 207,534 women found that weight gain between pregnancies was strongly associated with major complications for the woman and baby in the months preceding, and just after childbirth.

Another study found that women whose weight fell significantly between pregnancies had a higher risk of giving birth prematurely than women whose weight remained stable.

‘There is a known association between overweight and obese parents and the likelihood of a child being overweight themselves’ says Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum.

It is also common for overweight women to experience more discomfort and difficulties during childbirth than healthy women.

Young girls should be taught the importance of a healthy diet not only for their own physical health and comfort but also that of any children they may wish to carry in the future.

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Image Source= Kaiser Permanente