A balanced diet before pregnancy is important to prevent a number of fetal and maternal pathologies. Recommendations for pregnant women from the High Council for Public Health (HCSP) to avoid deficiencies and control weight gain during pregnancy.
“For most women, pregnancy is a life event where “nutritional awareness” is heightened. Experienced as a new beginning, this period is opportune to raise women’s awareness and initiate a sustainable healthy lifestyle. “underlines the High Council for Public Health (HCSP), which has just updated the food guidelines of the National Health Nutrition Program for pregnant and breastfeeding women, so that Public Health France can then transcribe these new guidelines into simple messages.
Pregnancy is accompanied by physiological changes in metabolism, leading to an increase in certain nutritional requirements. The HCSP’s recommendations therefore aim to meet this increase in needs and prevent any nutritional deficiencies or deficiencies during this period that could affect the development of the baby and the health of the mother-to-be.
“Thus information on taking folate – to begin before conception – should be widely disseminated among young girls. Similarly, information on the teratogenic role of alcohol consumption and contamination by certain microbial agents (toxoplasmosis, listeriosis, cytomegalovirus, etc.) during pregnancy should be provided to all women of childbearing age.However, a balance must be found between the provision of information on the microbial and toxicological risks and the risk of increase the anxiety of pregnant women during a sensitive period” insists the HCSP.
What weight gain during pregnancy?
Weight gain is natural during pregnancy and is explained by the weight of the fetus, placenta and amniotic fluid, but also an accumulation of adipose tissue under the effect of placental hormones. But excessive gestational weight gain (greater than 20 kilograms) contributes to increasing the risk of maternal complications, and in particular high blood pressure of pregnancy. Excessive weight gain also increases the risk of fetal and neonatal complications.
In 2009, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) defined “ideal” weight gain based on pre-pregnancy weight. These recommendations have never been questioned since. Here they are :
- BMI < 18.5: recommended total weight gain of 12.5 to 18 kg
- BMI of 18.5 to 24.9: recommended total weight gain of 11.5 to 16 kg
- BMI of 25.0 to 29.9: recommended total weight gain of 7 to 11.5 kg
- BMI ≥ 30: recommended total weight gain of 5 to 9 kg
>> Warning : all these nutritional recommendations are intended for pregnant women in the absence of a particular diet (diets for health reasons or exclusion diets), pre-existing pathologies (obesity, bariatric surgery) or pathologies specific to pregnancy, such as than gestational diabetes. These situations require specific medical monitoring by a nutritionist.
Source : Opinion on the revision of dietary guidelines for pregnant and breastfeeding womenHigh Council for Public Health, January 2022
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