Introduction: Maternal obesity and overweight is becoming a growing public health problem. It is reaching epidemic proportions. One of its many complications is gestational diabetes mellitus. This is defined as glucose intolerance with onset or first recognition during pregnancy. It poses a health risk to both mother and child. It is most often a precursor to type 2 diabetes, which is the most common form of diabetes. Purpose: The purpose of the diploma thesis was to determine the impact of physical activity on the prevention of gestational diabetes mellitus in overweight and obese pregnant women based on a review of the literature. Methods: A review of professional and scientific literature was carried out. The literature was searched in the period from March 2022 to August 2022 in foreign databases in the English language. The keywords used in the search were physical activity AND gestational diabetes mellitus AND prevention AND obese pregnant women AND overweight pregnant women. Results: A total of 130 studies were found during the literature search. According to the exclusion criteria, we included 8 studies in the thesis, published between 2012 and 2022. The results show that physical activity can prevent the onset of gestational diabetes mellitus in pregnant women who belong to the risk group due to the risk factor of overweight or obesity. We have come to the conclusion that this can also be achieved with a nutritional intervention combined with physical activity. Subjects in the intervention groups also had a significantly lower gestational weight gain compared to those in the control groups. Discussion and conclusion: The incidence of gestational diabetes, obesity and overweight has been increasing over the years. However, since the effect of physical activity in connection with these conditions has not been sufficiently clarified, there is a lot of research needed on this topic, especially where the only intervention is physical activity. It is also necessary to mention the importance of prevention, so that women could already in the childbearing period acquire knowledge about how complications in pregnancy can affect the mother and the baby.
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