According to a new study, "Maternal Obesity and Risk for Birth Defects", PEDIATRICS Vol. 111 No. 5 May 2003, pp. 1152-1158, obese women are more likely than average-weight women to have infants with spina bifida, omphaocele, heart defects, and multiple anomalies.   The writers of the article admit that the reasons for these links are uncertain, but MAY include "nutritional deficits in women with poor eating habits" (1).

What we are saying, then, is NOT that being overweight causes disease, but having poor eating habits causes disease.  Why are most overweight women overweight?  The same thing that causes the women to be overweight also causes the babies to have birth defects - lack of appropriate vitamins and minerals for proper growth and development.  Most of the time, we don't have appropriate vitamins and minerals because we are eating foods we shouldn't eat, that are devoid of nutrition, and its the nutritional deficiencies which cause the birth defects, not the extra weight at all.

Now, speaking from experience as an overweight woman, you CAN be overweight and be healthy, and have a healthy baby.  If you eat lots of fruits and vegetables, the appropriate amount of protein, and take nutritional supplements that make sure you are getting more than the RDA of nutrients, the weight does not necessarily have to effect your pregnancy or your baby.

There are many causes for being overweight.  If you are overweight because you don't get the appropriate vitamins and minerals for your body to keep your weight normal, then that same deficiency CAN affect your baby.  It takes diligent attention to your health to be overweight and have a healthy baby, but we are convinced that it is not the weight itself that causes the problem, but the lack of appropriate nutrition.  Take care of the nutritional deficiencies, and your baby will be fine.

Once again, nutrition is the number one prenatal care issue.  For a woman doing her own prenatal care, the most important thing she can do is make sure she has an excellent diet.

I recommend:

80-100 grams of protein daily   Blue Ribbon Baby Pages - Dr. Brewer
A wide variety of Organic fruits and vegetables - Pesticides cause birth defects too
The Rainbow Light Prenatal Vitamins
Don't eat fish or shellfish if you are pregnant - high mercury levels cause birth defects
 

As a side note, I'm sure none of these studies looked at the obese women's babies to see what the pesticide levels were in the mothers.  Pesticides are stored in the fatty tissues, and obese women, of course, have more fatty tissues and therefore store more pesticides.  These women would need to clean their blood on a regular basis, a task best suited to Ultimate Living's product Green Miracle.
 
 

1.  Yahoo! News, Available Online,  [http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030505/ap_on_he_me/obesity_birth_defects_1)]