Commentary: Obese Pregnant Women Should Gain Less Weight Than Currently Recommended

More about them having no idea what they are talking about.

"Recent recommendations by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) call for women who are overweight or obese to gain more weight than they should, a Saint Louis University obstetrician wrote in a January commentary for Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Joined by several colleagues, Raul Artal, M.D., chair of the department of obstetrics, gynecology and women's health at Saint Louis University who has conducted extensive research on weight gain during pregnancy, did not endorse the IOM's May 2009 recommendation. The IOM, a non-governmental, independent, nonprofit organization, provides advice that is designed to improve health to national decision makers and the public.

'The recently published IOM recommendations for gestational weight gain are virtually identical to those published in 1990 with one exception: obese women are now recommended to gain 11 - 20 pounds compared to the previous recommendations of at least 15 pounds,' Artal said.

'Recommending a single standard of weight gain for all obese classes is of concern since higher BMI levels are associated with more severe medical conditions and have long-term adverse health implications.'

Artal recommended obese women eat a nutrient-rich diet of between 2,000 and 2,500 calories a day, which would cause them to cap their weight gain at 10 pounds, and in some cases, lose weight."

This last paragraph, the weight gain cap of 10 pounds, is impossible to predict and plainly wrong.

Whatever.

The point remains that for years women have been told how much weight to gain when pregnant and they still do not have it "right" and there still remains disagreement.

Things that are established, and correct, are not open to disagreement and revision.

That is why there is little controversy over the sum of 1 + 1.

Better not to be a fat pregnant woman to begin with.