Obese women 'significantly more likely to have children with birth defects'

Researchers at Newcastle University have found that obese mothers are significantly more likely to have children with birth defects than slim mothers. The research highlights the dangers of obesity in expecting mothers at a time when an estimated one in six pregnant women in Britain is overweight or obese. Experts are calling for UK Government's anti-obesity campaign (Change4Life) to specifically target and educate women in the child-bearing age about the complications related to being pregnant when you are over-weight or obese. This research also calls on the Doctors to be made more aware of the complications that obese or over-weight expecting mothers can possibly suffer.

According to the review of 39 separate scientific studies, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, there were more than twice babies as likely to be born with spina bifida, (with incomplete spinal cord causing disability) and 30 per cent more likely to have heart defects and 20 per cent more likely to be born with a cleft palate.

A separate study warns that doctors routinely miss warnings signs of heart disease in pregnancy, despite the condition being responsible for 2.27 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies, twice the rate it was in the 1990s.

These studies have shown that obesity can result in critical consequences for obese mothers. It is definitely the right time to start tackling obesity before it gets too late.

Further Reading:

Download support materials from Change For Life campaign
Read more on how fat mothers are associated with birth defects
Help and advice from Manchester Slimming Clinic