Professor Adrienne Gordon studies pre-pregnancy weight loss benefits for mother and baby. 

Professor Adrienne Gordon is on a mission.    

She is leading a world-first clinical trial exploring how losing weight before pregnancy can reduce complications for women and their babies.    

One in two women in Australia are a higher than healthy weight when trying to conceive, a trend Professor Gordon describes as the 'new normal' that is linked to significant health challenges for women during pregnancy and their babies.    

A higher than healthy weight before pregnancy is linked to reduced chances of conceiving and increased possibility of miscarriage, gestational diabetes, high blood pressure and caesarean birth.   

Meanwhile, babies can be born at a higher weight, experience complications at birth and require admission to a special care nursery, which impacts breastfeeding.   

Professor Gordon, a Senior Staff Specialist Neonatologist at RPA Hospital and Clinical Professor of Obstetrics Gynaecology and Neonatology at the University of Sydney, will address the Sydney Innovation and Research Symposium on Friday July 21 to discuss the study.    

"There's been a lot of work over the last 10 to 15 years focused on limiting weight gain in pregnancy and trying to dispel the myth of eating for two, but in reality, most of these studies haven't shown the benefit in clinical outcomes that people hoped they would," Professor Gordon said.    

"We're interested in trying to understand whether supporting women with overweight or obesity to lose weight before they become pregnant, will improve pregnancy outcomes.”   

Professor Gordon and her team are recruiting 1,972 women aged up to 40 years across New South Wales and considering conceiving in the next 12 months.   

They are randomly assigned to one of two different weight loss programs and connected to a clinical team at one of five hospitals across the state.    

Professor Gordon and her team are interested in the impact of weight loss before pregnancy on both mothers (gestational diabetes, hypertension and first caesarean birth) and their babies (baby size, admission to a special care nursery and perinatal mortality).    

She acknowledges a person's weight is a sensitive topic and that conversations about the health risks and burden of disease associated with overweight and obesity should be navigated carefully and through a lens of support.    

"There are lots of learnings from experts in this area, with important information around stigma and engaging in a supportive practice that doesn't do that, such as using person-first language," Professor Gordon said.    

"We're saying that this is part of preparing for pregnancy, that there are many behavioural changes people can make, and this is one of them.  

"The more people can have that conversation without guilt or stigma in a supportive way is going to be helpful.   

"I'm not saying it's not hard, it is hard, but it's very important."    

The Sydney Innovation and Research Symposium is part of Sydney Innovation Week, running 17 to 21 July, with in person and online tickets available for inspiring speaker sessions and panel discussions.