Being Overweight is a Pregnancy Complication

Women considering pregnancy should do everything in their power to reach and maintain an optimal body weight prior to conception. A new study finds that being overweight¹ is linked to a 14% less chance of a successful pregnancy, jumping to 28% for obese women.

“The results are not surprising; obesity is a state of inflammation and is not a good environment for conception or fetal development,” said Barbara Luke, lead researcher. “The key message is to lose weight, prior to conception, and focus on pre-conception health issues.”

Obese women were up to 35% less likely to become pregnant even with fertility assistance. *Of the obese women who were able to become pregnant, the odds of stillbirth were increased more than twofold,” Luke said. “Among live births, the odds of premature birth significantly paralleled increasing obesity: from 16 percent for overweight women to 34 percent for women at Class 3 [the most obese studies].”

Proper leptin function is required for optimal body weight. Additionally, leptin is the key hormone that enables the placenta to grow and successful pregnancy to occur. Entering pregnancy in a state of leptin resistance is problematic for a variety of reasons. All women of childbearing age should be following the Leptin Diet.