Pregnant women should cut fat intake

Pregnant women need to watch their diet, what they eat can affect both their baby and themselves, a U.S. researcher said. Dr. Katherine Bowers, a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., said gestational diabetes is a common pregnancy complication that can affect both mother-to-be and baby. The researchers analyzed data from 13,000 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study II. The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found high fat intake can put mother and baby at risk. "Women who had high intakes of animal fat, so the source of their fat came from animal products, more frequently developed gestational diabetes during their pregnancies," Bowers told the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Women with higher dietary cholesterol also had an increased risk, but a healthy diet can help pregnant women reduce their risk of this complication, Bowers said.