Yoga may help improve pregnancy outcome

The practice of yoga during pregnancy seems to improve birth weight and reduce prematurity and overall complications, Indian researchers report.

They studied 169 pregnant women trained in the integrated approach to yoga and in 166 "controls" who received routine prenatal care.

Fourteen percent of deliveries were premature in the yoga group compared with 29 percent in the controls. Rates of pregnancy-related high blood pressure were also lower in the yoga group, the researchers report in the Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine.

Courtesy of Reuters Health 5/23/2005