Two Thirds of Pregnant Women Have a Risky Weight Problem

Around two thirds of pregnancies involve weight gain outside the recommended range, new data has found.

The analysis, published in the BMJ, pooled data on 1.6 million women worldwide, highlighting the urgent need for updated standards for healthy weight gain in pregnancy.

Gestational weight gain (GWG)—the combined growth of mother and baby—is closely linked to maternal and infant health.

Excessive or insufficient gain increases the risk of complications that can persist into later life.

Yet current guidelines remain rooted in data from the 1980s, based largely on white women in high-income countries and fail to reflect today’s more diverse populations or contemporary environmental influences such as rising average body mass index (BMI) and widespread availability of unhealthy foods