Fat women 'at increased miscarriage risk'

London, Nov 14 : Women who're overweight are at an increased risk of miscarrying a perfectly healthy baby, a shocking new research has found.

According to the study, when it comes to conceiving, being overweight or obese is a major complicating factor.

The study found that women with a body mass index of more than 25 - the equivalent of a 5ft 5in woman weighing 11 stone - were more likely to miscarry a healthy baby than lighter women.

Another study found that women who are overweight or obese are two thirds more likely to miscarry, reports the Telegraph.

Now, the latest study, which was carried out by Stanford University School of Medicine in California, found that 53 per cent of foetuses miscarried by overweight women were normal compared with 37 per cent of babies that were miscarried by women of a healthy weight.

The suggestion is that the miscarriage in overweight women is less likely to be due to some abnormality with the foetus and rather is a result of some other problem caused by the women being overweight.

The study was led by Dr Inna Landres, who presented the results at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference in San Francisco.

The study involved examining the DNA from foetuses that were miscarried in the first eight weeks of pregnancy among 204 women.

Dr Landres said: "Obesity predisposes women to miscarry normal babies."

ANI