DOI: 10.5176/2315-4330_WNC13.41
Authors: Catherine L Kempster and Dr Rasika S. Jayasekara
Abstract:
Introduction: Overweight and obese women during their antenatal period have an increased risk of experiencing one or multiple complications. There are several approaches that can be used towards the treatment of obesity within society; however evidence of benefit from published studies appears limited and inconsistent on overweight or obese pregnant women. The purpose of this review is to assess the effectiveness of diet and exercise interventions for minimizing gestational weight gain.
Objective: The objectives of this review were to investigate the effectiveness of the management strategies of diet and exercise interventions for minimizing gestational weight gain for overweight and obese women.
Methods: A search strategy was designed to identify the relevant literature, and the following databases were searched: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, CINAHL, MEDLINE and TRIP. The search was limited to the last 10 years and recent high quality studies were selected.
Discussion: This review includes the most recent two systematic reviews, one meta-analysis and two randomized control trials. All studies included in this review highlighted several variables associated with dietary and physical exercise interventions amongst overweight and obese pregnant women.
Conclusion: Dietary and exercise intervention are likely to be effective in reducing gestational weight gain compared to routine care, although the most effective approach is still to be explored. There is substantial support to recommend that dietary and exercise intervention is safe during pregnancy with the review indicating that no adverse maternal or neonatal outcomes occurred, however, this is only recommended if there is not any pregnancy complication present.
Keywords: diet, exercise, overweight, obese, women, pregnancy
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