Education, Exercise and Low-Fat Diet Are Effective in Reducing Excessive Weight Gain in Pregnant Women, UPMC Study Shows

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 23 PRNewswire via Individual Inc. -- Women who are normal weight before pregnancy can significantly reduce their chances of gaining too much weight during pregnancy through a program focusing on education, moderate exercise and low-fat eating, say researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's (UPMC) Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (WPIC).

Pregnancy is associated with long-term weight gain in some women and increases a woman's risk of becoming overweight by 60 percent. Women who gain more than the recommended amount of weight during their pregnancies retain twice as much weight after pregnancy as women who gain within the guidelines. According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), women of normal weight should gain 25 to 35 pounds during pregnancy and overweight women should gain no more than 15 to 25 pounds. Yet, about one-third to one-half of normal- weight women and nearly two-thirds of overweight women gain more than the IOM recommends.

"The strongest predictor of postpartum weight retention is the amount of weight gained during pregnancy," says Betsy A. Polley, M.S., of WPIC's Behavioral Weight Loss Program. "In fact, weight gain at 12 weeks gestation can closely predict total weight gain. Because of this, we can identify women who are on their way to gaining too much weight and counsel them about proper diet and exercise."

The WPIC researchers are the first to test whether a program of education, exercise and low-fat eating works to reduce excessive weight gain in healthy pregnant women. Past research has focused on women who gain insufficient weight. According to Polley, many women are not given guidelines for proper weight gain during their pregnancies, which could lead to either too much or too little gain.

"Many times doctors tell women that they'll naturally gain the right amount of weight," says Polley. "This could be one of the reasons why so many women gain more weight during pregnancy than they should.

"Weight gain is a significant health issue for women," Polley stresses. "Even moderate obesity is associated with hypertension, diabetes, stroke and heart disease. In the United States, 35 percent of women are overweight. Since long-term weight loss is difficult to achieve, we need to focus more on ways to prevent obesity."

During a study, the program developed by Polley and colleagues Rena Wing, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at the UPMC, and Cynthia Sims, M.D., of Magee- Womens Hospital, Pittsburgh, helped normal-weight women stay within the IOM boundaries. "With our intervention, only 33 percent of the normal-weight women gained more than they should have. In the group where there was no intervention, 58 percent of the normal-weight women gained too much," says Polley.

According to Polley, the study results seem to show the program had the opposite effect on overweight women. "Oddly, overweight women who received the intervention tended to still gain excess weight. We're going to do further research to find out what type of program works best in overweight women." For additional information about the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, please access http://www.upmc.edu.

SOURCE: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

CONTACT: Craig Dunhoff, DUNHOF@a1.isd.upmc.edu, or Lisa Rossi, ROSSIL@a1.isd.upmc.edu, of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 412-624-2607, or fax, 412-624-3184
Web site: http://www.upmc.edu/