Be Healthy in Pregnancy (B-HIP): A Trial to Study Nutrition and Exercise Approaches for Healthy Pregnancy

Summary

Weight gained during pregnancy is referred to as gestational weight gain (GWG). Excess GWG is a widespread problem that occurs in 55-75% of Canadian women who enter pregnancy overweight or obese (a group that represents over 50 % of all pregnant women) and about 40% women of normal weight. Excess GWG is associated with complications of pregnancy, such as post-partum weight retention, type 2 diabetes, elevated fats in the blood, and high blood pressure and may also lead to problems with the health of the newborn child. Our research aims to find ways to control GWG by developing new and practical approaches to diet and exercise targeted to overweight pregnant women that hold promise of improving their health both during pregnancy and thereafter. The experimental intervention is a diet of higher protein provided by dairy foods combined with an exercise program modified to the abilities of overweight pregnant women; and the control is the usual advice given by their primary care providers, information on healthy pregnancy from Health Canada, and a focus group session exploring women's experiences with exercise, nutrition, and gestational weight gain. The results of this study will allow us to design future large clinical studies in all pregnant women to help control the weight gain in all pregnant women.

Conditions

• Excessive Weight Gain in Pregnancy as Antepartum Condition
• Obesity
• Weight Gain
• Type 2 Diabetes

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Exercise and Nutrition Intervention

Both Intervention and Control participants and their care providers receive the new Health Canada guide on Healthy Weight Gain During Pregnancy. For the Experimental Group, the exercise intervention includes a custom-designed pregnancy-specific group walking class of 30-60 min. 1x/week and a prescribed at-home walking program to reach 10,000 steps/day. The nutrition intervention is a high protein (25% energy) low-fat dairy food plan designed to meet energy needs and with individualized counselling.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Dairy Farmers of Canada

  collaborator OTHER

• McMaster University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Stephanie A. Atkinson, PhD · McMaster University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2012-11-12

Primary Completion

2018-04-30

Completion

2019-04-30

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations