Effect of dietary counseling on preventing excessive weight gain during pregnancy

Excessive gestational weight gain (EGWG) is associated with short- and long-term health problems among mothers and their offspring. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of dietary counseling on EGWG. Randomized controlled intervention trial. The study was conducted at the antenatal care (ANC) clinic, Center for Social and Preventive Medicine, Pediatrics Hospital, Cairo University, during the period from July 2015 to April 2016. A total of 200 primigravidae aged between 20 and 30 years were included and randomized into intervention and control groups. Based on data analysis from phase 1, nutritional practices of the studied participants were identified and tailored nutrition counseling sessions designed. Follow-up of the studied participants throughout ANC visits was done to enforce the healthy dietary intake and encourage weight gain according to the recommendations to avoid EGWG. The intervention resulted in a significantly higher proportion of women in the intervention group who gained gestational weight within the Institute of Medicine recommendations compared to women in the control group (42.7% vs 13.9%, respectively) (P-value