Pregorexia, An Eating Disorder Of Pregnant Women

Pregorexia is an eating disorder derived from anorexia that happens exclusively to pregnant women. It is mainly caused by the urge to stay thin, or at least not to gain too much weight during pregnancy; this disorder affects women who are very demanding about their physical appearance and also those with self-esteem issues.

Anorexia is a disease that is mainly based on resistance to ingesting food. It has an essential complement, which is voluntary induction of vomiting. Likewise, pregorexia is a restriction on the consumption of certain high-calorie foods, an exaggerated increase in physical activity, and the obligatory elimination of ingested food.

While it is normal for weight gain to occur during pregnancy, for many women this is a major threat. Their concern with keeping thin, even at this time, can lead them to make decisions that affect their health and that of the fetus, such as falling into pregorexia.

Therefore, it is important to recognize that weight gain is not necessarily a permanent condition. In this regard, it is known that these extra pounds are distributed between the baby’s weight, the volume of amniotic fluid and blood, as well as the size of the uterus and placenta; fluid retention is also very frequent. 

Who are the most likely to develop pregorexia?

It is a disorder that can be an extension of anorexia, so women affected by this problem are the most likely to suffer from pregorexia. Therefore, anorexic women generally have irregular menstrual cycles, and therefore a pregnancy is more difficult to achieve; in such a case, the gestation process is more vulnerable from the start.

It can also happen to women who do not have a history of previous eating disorders, but who in early pregnancy experience a drastic emotional change. It could be a difficult time in your life, either because of the pregnancy itself, or maybe because of anxiety, because you didn’t want to get pregnant or are too afraid to gain weight.

“In current times women are increasingly socially and culturally pressured to maintain high aesthetic standards, perhaps that’s why this disease is more common now than it was before.”
-Lorena Munoz. Nutritionist-

A pregnancy that develops normally requires weight control, but there is a measure that is considered appropriate. However, due to social pressure  a woman may feel obligated to reduce the weight that is generally recommended by experts during the period of pregnancy.

The propensity for this situation may be a consequence of eating habits that the mother had before becoming pregnant, but it is a situation that, for social and cultural reasons, can also affect women without a history of this type. Therefore, to act in the face of the disorder, there must be the work of a team formed by psychiatrists, psychologists and nutritionists.

Complications caused by pregorexia

Pregorexia itself is a disease that, as we already know, occurs at a very delicate time in a woman’s life.  A pregnant woman already runs many risks, but in this case the fetus is also directly affected, as it feeds through the placenta, which, in turn, is nourished by the mother.

A very clear effect of this disorder means the possible malnutrition of the pregnant woman, as most of the consumed nutrients (very few in this case) will be absorbed by the fetus. Finally, since there are few nutrients stored in the placenta, the situation can determine the death of the baby, the mother or both.

Other consequences can be:

• Malnutrition during pregnancy can lead to the birth of low birth weight babies. This also applies to women who became pregnant when their weight was under 50 kilograms.
• People born with these conditions in adulthood can develop obesity, anxiety, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
• It is common for mothers who suffer from pregorexia not to develop affective bonds with their children, mainly because they have an emotional disorder that prevents them from showing their feelings correctly.
• The effect of pregorexia can cause problems for the mother during breastfeeding.
• There are possibilities of presenting a premature birth.
• Anemia- related complications .
• Low intrauterine development.