Healthy Tips: A healthy diet is critical to the healthy development of a growing baby

A healthy diet is critical to the healthy development of a growing baby and pregnancy is an opportunity to promote good health and break the cycle of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Maternal pre-pregnancy obesity increases the risk of gestational diabetes and birth complications as well as predisposing the child to low or high birthweight and at risk of developing NCDs later in life. Overweight and obesity in Pacific women, including those within childbearing age is extremely high, more than 60% of women in American Samoa, Cook Islands, FSM, Kiribati, Niue, Nauru, Samoa, Tokelau, and Tonga, are obese.