Prenatal education of overweight or obese pregnant women to prevent childhood overweight (the ETOIG study): an open-label, randomized controlled trial

{Background We aimed to evaluate whether pre and perinatal education of pregnant women would reduce childhood overweight. Methods Four French centers included women at <= 21 gestational weeks (GWs) with body mass index (BMI) > 25 kg/m(2) before pregnancy. Patients were randomized to a control group (routine care including at least one dietary visit) or an intervention group (2 individuals (26 and 30 GW) and 4 group sessions (21, 28, 35 GW, 2 months postpartum)) aimed at educating the future mother regarding infant and maternal nutrition. The primary objective was to reduce post-natal excessive weight gain in the infant from birth to 2 years (NCT00804765). This project was funded by a grant from the National Programme for Hospital Research (PHRC-2007 French Ministry of Health). Results We included 275 women (BMI: 32.5 kg/m(2)). The rate of post-natal excessive weight gain was similar in the intervention (n = 132) and control (n = 136) groups by intention to treat (ITT: 59.1% vs 60.3% respectively