Obesity During Pregnancy Increases Heart Defect Risk in Child

Almost 1/3 of pregnant American women are obese. A new study shows that obesity during pregnancy significantly increases the risk for a variety of heart defects¹, causing poor health in their children.

Obesity is a highly inflammatory situation. Combine it with emotional stress and a poor diet and it is a recipe for programming poor health for a lifetime into a child. In particular, too much inflammation not only places gene switches to the wrong settings but it also can cause developmental abnormalities. Being a few pounds overweight during pregnancy does not increase heart defect risk. However, obese women (BMI over 30) have a 15% increased risk and very obese women (BMI over 40) have a 33% increased risk of having a child with a heart related birth defect. The offspring of obese women had significantly higher rates for atrial septal defects, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, aortic stenosis, pulmonic stenosis, and tetralogy of Fallot.

This is a wake up call for a society that should be caring about its future. Women should do everything in their power to attain and maintain an optimal body weight prior to pregnancy. The future health of their child may depend on it.