A NEW project aimed at making positive lifestyle changes for overweight and obese pregnant women in Bradford is set to get underway next month.

The 'Healthy Mum and Bump' scheme will run out of the Café West Healthy Living Centre, focusing on women from communities in the Allerton and Lower Grange areas.

Heart Research UK has awarded the centre £5,000 to run the project, after finding that obesity levels among pregnant women in Bradford were around five per cent higher than the national average.

The charity states that nationally, almost one in five pregnant women are obese, while in Bradford, the figure rises to around one in four.

Obesity is said to increase the chances of pregnant mothers suffering from conditions such as long-term coronary heart disease.

The Allerton ward has also been identified as having an above average percentage of low weight babies, which Heart Research UK states has been attributed to poor maternal nutrition and obesity during pregnancy.

The impact of this can lead to ‘catch up growth', where babies become obese as their post-natal growth accelerates.

'Healthy Mum and Bump' will run from September 7, initially as a ten-week pilot project involving 12 women from the local community.

The programme will invite mums-to-be to take part in practical cooking sessions designed to help them eat more healthily and manage their weight during pregnancy.

The weekly sessions include a cookery class held with a qualified nutritionist, who will cover recipe adaptations and dining out for a healthy heart, with a particular focus on reading food labels and looking at fats, salts and sugars.

The pilot will finish with the 12 women compiling a healthy heart cookery book with all their adapted recipes, which will be made available to buy online to share their new knowledge with other pregnant women wanting to improve their health.

Café West healthy living centre manager, Julie McCann, said she was excited about adding to the success of the centre's previous 'Healthy Heart' programmes.

"We can now continue to build on this project enabling more people to participate, and reaching out to the wider community," she said.

"The cook book is something we are very passionate about, and we are very grateful for Heart Research UK’s continuous support."

Heart Research UK national director, Barbara Harpham, said: "Café West have done some fantastic work so far, and this project will help more people in the Bradford community to understand how eating healthier and adapting their lifestyles will help them and their families towards healthier, happier and longer lives."

The £5,000 is the third Healthy Heart Grant to be presented to Café West, which has used previous funding to help people at high risk of heart disease by running healthy eating classes aimed at those with high cholesterol or high blood pressure.