Know the Health Risks that Can Affect a Baby if the Mother is Obese

Women with obesity issues but with serious plans of getting pregnant are given the advice to lose weight first, as certain risks might affect the baby’s health. Losing weight before getting pregnant even by a relatively small amount, could help lessen the occurrence of potential problems caused by a mother’s obese condition. After all, pregnant women have a tendency to gain more weight and body mass, as they will crave more food for themselves and for the child developing in her womb.

How Obesity Can Affect Pregnancy

First off, excessive body fat would make things difficult to examine during prenatal examinations to determine if there are indicators of problems that could affect the fetus’ anatomy. Moreover, checking of the fetus’ vital signs would be difficult due to the physical barriers.

Below are some other pregnancy-related problems that are likely to happen if the mother is obese:

• Birth defects
• Macrosomia refers to a condition in which the fetus is larger than normal, which in turn increases the risk of cesarean birth. Infants affected by macrosomia are born with too much body fat, they have greater chances of becoming obese themselves when they get older.
• Stillbirth is a risk that becomes greater when the mother’s body mass index (BMI) is excessive or very high. The condition gives the fetus little room for movement.
• The risk of preterm or premature birth also heightens when the mother’s obese condition leads to a pregnancy complication called preeclampsia.

Obesity During Pregnancy Increases a Child’s Risk of Developing Leukemia

A study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh in July 2019 revealed that a mother’s excessive weight during pregnancy can impact a child’s risk of developing leukemia. The study discovered that the babies of obese mothers have 57% increased chances of developing some form of cancer before reaching age of five.

Overweight pregnant women tend to give birth to heavier babies, usually with a birth weight of over 8.8 pounds. The study found out that these babies have higher risks of developing acute myeloid (a white cell) leukemia (AML) and pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a type of cancer in which the bone marrow produces too many lymphocytes. The increased risk is caused by two factors:

1. The obese mother’s modified DNA expression is passed on to the baby;

2. During the critical stages of the fetus’ growth, the insulin levels of the mother’s body affected the development of the fetus.

More research revealed findings upholding studies that concluded that a mother’s obesity can affect a newborn child’s survival rate against pediatric leukemia or other cancer-related problems.

While burning more calories is the most effective way of losing weight, burning calories through exercise can have slow results for obese women. A nutritionist would recommend eating certain fruits and vegetables that help promote metabolism that encourages brown fat cells to burn more fat.

Actually, there’s a new weight loss product, called exipure, with a formulation that works toward increasing the levels of brown fat in the body, by converting white fat cells into brown fat. That way, the stored white fat cells will turn brown and become available for burning as body energy.

Some words of advice though, it would be wise to consult with your nutritionist or health care provider first, before taking Exipure or any kind of weight loss medication, especially if you have plans of getting pregnant.