Preconception dietary intake and physical activity The importance for future lifestyle and health of two generations

Dietary intake and physical activity are important lifestyle behaviours around the period of pregnancy, since women’s lifestyle before and during pregnancy affects her own health as well as the health of her offspring. Nevertheless, many women of reproductive age do not meet the recommended dietary intake and physical activity guidelines. It is difficult to change lifestyle, but teachable moments such as the period around pregnancy can be used as a trigger to change dietary intake and physical activity: besides their own health, future mothers feel responsible for the health of their expected child. By making use of this teachable moment, we hypothesised that a preconception lifestyle intervention has the ability to improve cardiometabolic health and lifestyle in obese infertile women and their children. Our preconception lifestyle intervention showed modest changes in dietary intake and physical activity in obese infertile women, with indications for favourable health effects of preconception lifestyle changes in two generations. Intervening in dietary intake and physical activity of obese infertile women before their active wish to conceive would possibly lead to larger changes in lifestyle. Furthermore, in this way they would start pregnancy with a (more) healthy body weight, which is beneficial for the long term cardiometabolic health of at least two generations. Additionally, we suggest that lifestyle interventions should go further than the preconception period alone. Both partners should be motivated for and informed about a healthy lifestyle for the benefit of their own health and that of their offspring.