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Dangers for children of Women who are obese

A new study has shown that women who are obese are more likely to have children with birth defects than slim mothers. Defects including the child’s heart and spina bifida. An estimated one in six pregnant women in Britain is now obese or overweight.

The Government was asked by experts to fund anti-obesity campaigns, targeting all women within an age range and for doctors to be educated about potential complications obese and overweight expectant mothers can expect.

Newcastle University researchers discovered that babies born to obese mothers were significantly more likely to suffer from abnormalities. More than twice as likely to be born with spina bifida, in which the spinal cord is incomplete, causing disability. 20 per cent more likely to be born with a cleft palate and 30 per cent more likely to have heart defects.

Dr Emily Gelson, from Imperial College, London said: “Increasing numbers of deaths are occurring in women with unknown heart disease but with known risk factors. The presence of these risk factors must be highlighted during pregnancy, promoting the timely diagnosis of unsuspected (heart) disease in pregnant women.”

“Only by raising the profession’s awareness of the possibility of heart disease in pregnant women will this alarming rise in the maternal mortality rate be arrested, and preferably, reversed.” She co-authored the report.

         

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Obesity Increases Chances Of Birth Defects

Studies into obesity show that mothers are more likely to have babies with birth defects if overweight.

Senior author, Judith Rankin at Newcastle University said “We found that being obese in pregnancy can increase a woman’s risk of having a range of birth defects,”

“A further finding is that women who are overweight may also be at an increased risk, although the research evidence is not so clear and further work is needed,” she added.

The results of their findings were published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Obesity in pregnancy has been linked with gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, and is found to increase chances of blood clots, infection and risk of Cesarean delivery.

Babies born to mothers who are overweight have a higher risk of being too large and more chances of perinatal death.

Cases of spina bifida, heart defects, cleft lip and palate are also seen to rise significantly when the mother is classed as obese.

The research suggested several theories in the rise of birth defects in obese mothers which included undiagnosed diabetes, nutritional deficiencies such as a lack of folic acid, and the difficulty of performing ultrasound on larger women which may result in defects not being picked up early.

Rankin added “Birth defects occur in between 2 and 4 percent of all pregnancies, so the risk, even in obese women, remains low. If a woman who is obese is thinking of having a baby, the most important thing is to speak to their doctor and to think about their weight and diet so that they eat healthily and sensibly”

         

Too Much Vitamin E Can Cause Heart Defects

Recent studies in Holland have found that women who eat food containing high levels of vitamin E early in pregnancy may increase the risk of heart defects in babies

Studies were made of children born with and without congenital heart defects. When their infants were 16-months old, the mothers were asked to complete food frequency questionnaires for the month before the study. Researchers believe that the diets of the mothers during this period is similar to before the pregnancy.

It was found that for women who ate food with the highest vitamin E levels that the chances of having baby with a heart defect rose by 70 percent, in comparison to women with the lowest vitamin E intake.

Researchers stated that the high levels of vitamin E may cause an imbalance in the oxidant/antioxidant state of embryonic tissues. Another theory is that high levels of vitamin E may modify the genes responsible for heart development.

Food that contain high levels of vitamin E include Vegetable oils, nuts and fortified cereals.

         

New IVF Treatment Doubles Chances Of Success

Scientists have reported that women who undergoing fertility treatment with a new technique to pick up abnormal chromosomes in their eggs have twice the chance of having a baby.

One leading fertility specialist explained how it was a fast and precise method of detecting possible birth defects and miscarriages.

The new procedure, developed in the UK, has already seen a 41-year-old woman give birth to her first child after a number of miscarriages and 13 unsuccessful IVF attempts.

Simon Fishel, managing director of Care Fertility IVF centre, Sheffield, said
“We are likely to reduce the number of miscarriages, increase the number of implantations into the womb and increase the number of live births with this technology,” he added “We now have a technology that can examine all chromosomes from either an egg or an embryo.”

On average, 50 per cent of eggs women carry will contain chromosome abnormalities that may reduce the chances of having a healthy child. This rises to 75 per cent once they are over 40-years-old.

The new chromosome test is able to identify which eggs are normal and will give the best chance of a successful pregnancy.

Currently the treatment is not offered by the NHS and costs £1,950. The test takes less than 48 hours to complete, eliminating the need to freeze eggs before implantation.

Further research and clinical trails are necessary before the test will be offered to more couples wanting to undergo IVF treatment.

         

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