Nutritional Requirements During Pregnancy
Iron, folate, calcium and vitamin D are all required in greater amounts during pregnancy.[5]
In addition to increasing intake of certain nutrients, pregnant women should increase their daily energy intake by 100 to 300 kcal.[5]
Inadequate maternal nutrition is associated with insufficient maternal weight gain, inadequate fetal growth, and risk for delivery of a low birth weight infant.[6]
Iron Deficiency
The Centres for Disease Control in the United States estimates that low income women attending public health clinics have a prevalence of anemia of 8%, 12% and 29% in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd trimesters of their pregnancies, respectively.[7] Maternal iron deficiency is associated with a twice increased risk of preterm delivery and a three times increased risk of low birth weight.[7] It results in decreased work capacity, impaired cognitive function, fatigue and depression in pregnant women and new mothers.[7][8] There is a high prevalence of iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia in the general population of reproductive age females. In the United States, 1 in 10 reproductive aged women is iron deficient and 1 in 20 has iron deficiency anemia.[7] Worldwide, iron deficiency is estimated to be the most important single nutrient deficiency.[8] Iron is therefore a nutrient of particular concern in pregnancy.
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5. Health Canada. Nutrition for a healthy pregnancy: National guidelines for the childbearing years. Ottawa: Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada; 1999.
6. Widga, AC, Lewis, NM. Defined, in home, prenatal nutrition intervention for low-income women. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 1999;99:1058-62
7. Bodnar, LM, Scanlon, KS, Freedman, DS, Siega-Riz, AM, Cogswell, ME. High prevalence of post partum anemia among low income women in the United States. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 2001;185:438-43.
8. Beard, JL, et al. Maternal iron deficiency anemia affects postpartum emotions and cognition. The Journal of Nutrition 2005;235:267-72.
