Researchers aimed to determine the magnitude of change in metabolic measures during obese pregnancy, and to determine the impact of a lifestyle intervention on change in metabolic measures in obese pregnant women.

1158 obese pregnant women were randomised to either the UPBEAT intervention, a tailored complex lifestyle intervention focused on improving diet and physical activity, or standard antenatal care (control group). Marked changes in lipids and lipoproteins and more modest changes in other metabolites were observed across pregnancy in obese women. The intervention reduced the rate of metabolite increase in extremely large, very large, large and medium VLDL particles, particularly those containing triglycerides.