Experts have revealed that health professionals are dealing with an 'epidemic of obesity' among pregnant women as weight gain across the whole population continues to rise.

Around 50 percent of women at a childbearing age are either overweight or obese according to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

In the face of growing evidence that female obesity poses risks to both mother and baby, the organisation have launched public health guidelines on weight management before, during and after pregnancy.

Director of maternal and foetal research at Kings College London, Professor Lucilla Poston, said: "These guidelines are incredibly timely, we have an epidemic of obesity amongst our pregnant population. At St Thomas's recently we looked at our stats and there has been an exponential increase in obesity amongst our women attending ante-natal clinics, such that now 40% of the women are overweight or obese, and in the UK the best statistics we have suggests between 15% and 20% of pregnant women are coming into pregnancy with a BMI which is less than ideal."