Years ago a friend confided to me that her doctor "wouldn't let her" get pregnant unless she lost some weight - a lot of it. She never did lose the weight, or get pregnant, but she did adopt several children.
I didn't ask, and don't know if her doctor was concerned for her, or for the effects on a baby, but new studies are now showing that there is a definite correlation between obesity during pregnancy and birth defects.
With obesity rampant in the U.S., authorities say that now about 1/3 of all women of reproductive age are obese. Pregnancy raises their risk of hypertension and diabetes, among other things. Risks for the baby include pre-term birth and defects such as cleft palate, hydrocephaly, limb reduction, and more.
About 3% of all babies suffer from birth defects, compared to 4% of babies of obese mothers.
While researchers have not yet determined the cause, they speculate that it could be undiagnosed diabetes, or a nutritional deficiency in the mother. (Yes, you definitely can be nutritionally deficient and still overweight.)
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