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Diet during Pregnancy and Gestational Weight Gain

  • Prenatal, Neonatal, and Maternal Nutrition (DK Tobias and M-F Hivert, Section Editors)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Excessive gestational weight gain is associated with a number of health complications for both the mother and offspring. Trends across developed countries indicate an increase in gestational weight gain and a substantial number of women exceeding the recommended amount. Dietary interventions during pregnancy represent an opportunity to minimize excessive weight gain during the gestational period and improve perinatal and postpartum health. Several randomized trials and observational epidemiologic studies have evaluated aspects of maternal diet, such as the macronutrient composition, individual foods and beverages, overall dietary patterns, and caloric restriction with gestational weight gain. This review provides an overview of the current evidence to support the development of pregnancy dietary recommendations for the prevention of excessive gestational weight gain.

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Deirdre Tobias and Wei Bao declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Preventive Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 900 Commonwealth Avenue 3rd Floor, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Deirdre Tobias

  2. Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, 900 Commonwealth Avenue 3rd Floor, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Deirdre Tobias

  3. Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 6100 Executive Blvd Room 7B03B, MSC 7510, Bethesda, MD, 20892-7510, USA

    Wei Bao

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  1. Deirdre Tobias
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Correspondence to Deirdre Tobias.

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Tobias, D., Bao, W. Diet during Pregnancy and Gestational Weight Gain. Curr Nutr Rep 3, 289–297 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13668-014-0092-4

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