Anorexia is scary enough but doctors are also concerned about women who try to diet during pregnancy. The phenomenon has been dubbed pregorexia. Fox News has a story about pregorexia. Doctors are very concerned about it because gaining too little weight during pregnancy has been linked to lower birth weights in babies and premature births.
"It's vital women know that pregnancy is no time to be starving yourself," Pat O'Brien, a consultant obstetrician at University College Hospital and the Portland Hospital in London, told the Daily Mail. "During the nine months it is in the womb, the baby is growing faster than it ever will in later life."
Gaining too little weight during pregnancy is associated with poor fetal growth, lower birth weight and the chance of a baby's being born prematurely, according to a study released in May from RTI International-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Evidence-based Practice Center.
Alvarez said expectant mothers need to consume certain vitamins such as folic acid and vitamin B, as well as calcium to ensure the health of their unborn babies.
"What we expect is that, whenever possible, women should have a physical before they get pregnant — that way they can be evaluated for risk factors such as being overweight or underweight," he said. "Being overweight can lead to complications such as diabetes and being underweight can lead to problems such as low birth weight."
Here's a video from CBS that describes the warning signs of pregorexia. Women need more calories and nutrition during pregnancy not less. Exercise can also be overdone so pregnant women need to be carefull not to overdue it.
