The negative side effects of obesity are both well known and well documented. Obesity affects a person’s health in a number of ways, with conditions ranging from high blood pressure to skeletal problems.
But a new study recently release suggests there may also be a link between obese pregnant women and birth defects. The stud — published in the journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine — said that babies born to obese mothers are one-third more likely to suffer from birth defects such as spina bifida.
Excerpt of this study’s conclusion:
To our knowledge, this is the first population-based study of its scale to examine prepregnancy obesity and a range of structural birth defects. These results suggest a weak to moderate positive association of maternal obesity with 7 of 16 categories of birth defects and a strong inverse association with gastroschisis. The mechanisms underlying these associations are not yet understood but may be related to undiagnosed diabetes.