Gestational weight gain and postpartum weight retention in Tasmanian women: The Baby-bod Study

Abstract

Many factors can negatively impact perinatal outcomes, including inappropriate gestational weight gain (GWG). Despite having the greatest potential to influence maternal and infant health, there is a lack of consensus regarding the GWG consistent with a healthy pregnancy. To date, GWG in Northern Tasmania remains understudied. We investigated how maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) is related to weight gain during pregnancy and weight retention post-partum, and how maternal pre-pregnancy BMI is related to the mode of delivery. Approximately 300 Tasmanian mothers (n = 291 for mode of delivery and n = 282 for GWG) were included in this study. Analysis of variance and chi square tests were conducted to assess differences in BW of mothers across BMI categories and differences between categorical variables; respectively. Based on pre-pregnancy BMI, mothers were assigned to one of three groups, with healthy weight (<25 kg m-2), with overweight (25–29.9 kg m-2), or with obesity (>30 kg m-2). Pre-pregnancy BMI and body weight (BW) were significantly associated (p<0.001) with post-partum BW at 3 and 6 months. Only 25% of mothers with a normal weight BMI, 34% with overweight and 13% with obesity, achieved the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendation for GWG. Interestingly, a number of women in our cohort lost weight during gestation (1.5, 9 and 37% in <25, 25–29.9 and >30 kg m-2 groups, respectively). Further, women with obesity showed the lowest level of BW fluctuation and retained less weight post-partum. The highest number of caesarean sections were observed in mothers who exceeded GWG recommendations. Most mothers either exceeded or failed to achieve IOM recommendations for GWG. To improve the generalisability of these findings, this study should be replicated in a larger representative sample of the Tasmanian maternal population.

The Relationship of Pre-Pregnancy Body Mass Index with Maternal Anthropometric Indices, Weight Retention and the Baby's Weight and Nutrition in the First 6 Months Post-partum

“…Therefore, it could be argued that the mean retained weight six months after delivery has an inverse relationship with the mother's PPBMI, with obese mothers having the lowest weight retention rate after delivery. In line with the results of the present study, the ndings of Jayasinghe et al (2022) showed that obese women had the lowest rate of weight retention after delivery (27). However, Sobhan et al (2019) found that mothers whose GWG was more than the recommended amount, regardless of the mother's initial BMI, had more weight retention, which is not in agreement with the ndings of the present study (3).…”

Quality assessment of pre- and postnatal nutrition and exercise mobile applications in the United States and China

“…According to user feedback, consumers are less inclined to pick and install mobile apps with fewer downloads than this ( 29 ). The following apps were excluded: ( 1 ) those without a rating; ( 2 ) those without a Chinese- or English-language interface; ( 3 ) those without detailed function description and content introduction in the app store; ( 4 ) unrelated and duplicate apps; ( 5 ) paid apps with no trial period; ( 6 ) those with no updated version since December 31, 2019; and ( 7 ) those with <1 million installations.…”

“…Unhealthy eating habits and physical inactivity are prominent health risk factors throughout the PtP stages. They may cause both short- and long-term health issues for women ( 3 , 4 ), such as the need for obstetric intervention (e.g., cesarean section and instrumental delivery) ( 5 ), a greater likelihood of fetal macrosomia (i.e., a large-for-gestational-age baby) ( 6 ), a greater risk of pregnancy-related complications (e.g., gestational diabetes, hypertension, pre-eclampsia) ( 7 ), and poor cardiovascular health ( 8 ).…”

Lactation from the inside out: Maternal homeorhetic gastrointestinal adaptations regulating energy and nutrient flow into milk production

“…However, both these additional groupsmultiparous dams (and dams without lactation) had significantly more retained abdominal cavity white adipose tissue and were markedly resistant to (losing body mass) in an acute fast prior to culling, compared with primiparous dams with 4, 8 and 12 pup litters. If these reflect generalised mammalian maternal responses, there may be biological reasons for human females not being able to lose body mass easily after being pregnant (Jayasinghe et al, 2022), especially after multiple gestation periods and/or for those without any energetic drain of lactation. From these initial findings in rats, it remains feasible that some maternal adjustments in gut size and to metabolic control that occur during pregnancy and lactation may persist beyond weaning and/or be further altered by lactation duration and parity.…”

“…After lactation ends, how and to what extent do homeorhetic changes revert to previous homeostatic set points or do they remain at new ones? Any carry over and persistence of earlier reproductive enteroplastic changes risk cumulative increases in body mass (Jayasinghe et al, 2022) through actions of energy-harvesting gastrointestinal machinery leading to excess storage, with increased metabolic dysfunction and cancer risks; these become particularly important post menopausally. A recent study has provided evidence that gut changes can still be induced in older females: de Fátima Laureano Martins et al ( 2022) investigated the potential beneficial effects of Yacon a native Andean root (Smallanthus sonchifolius) at 6% fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS)/inulin on intestinal health as its fermentation by Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus generates lactic acid and SCFAs.…”