A report released this week by The Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths (CEMACH) shows that obesity is the fastest growing cause of women dying in pregnancy or childbirth in the UK.

295 women died during or after pregnancy between 2003 and 2005 and more than half of those were overweight or obese. Fifteen percent of the mothers who died were morbid or super-morbidly obese, and although the figures are low for the total number of pregnancies in total, the results are still worrying experts.

The report suggests that obese women are four or five times more likely to suffer a maternal death or loss of a baby during childbirth than those of a normal weight.

The UK has one of the lowest maternal death rates in the world, however the death rate in this country has begun to rise. In the late eighties it stood at 9.83 deaths per 100,000 births - that figure has now risen to 13.95 deaths per 100,000 births.

With obesity figures on the rise, experts are advising women to be fully aware that they should try and obtain a healthy weight before conceiving.