Authors : Rekha S. Taley
Page Nos : 36-39
Description :
The achievement of a successful pregnancy represents one of the fundamental functions of existence. The nutritional status of women must be a goal preventing detrimental nutritional unbalances. In particular, diet during the first trimester may be more important to development and differentiation of various organs. Moreover, also preconceptional nutrition is crucial for an optimal onset and development of pregnancy. Unfortunately, nutritional intake of childbearing age women appears to be inadequate during the preconceptional period, mainly in terms of micronutrients. Thus, efforts to increase awareness of a healthy diet and lifestyle should be strengthened not only throughout pregnancy but also before, given that pregnancies are often unplanned. A meta- analysis evidenced the relationship between preconceptional care and reduced risk of congenital anomalies in the offspring of women with pregestational diabetes mellitus the role of preconceptional folic acid supplementation in the prevention of NTDs has been reported. There is a association between preconceptional maternal nutrition and pregnancy outcomes.Interestingly, intakes of magnesium and ascorbic acid above the RDA at 375.9- 502.9 and 97.9- 295.8 mg/day,respectively, were found to substantially decrease OFC risk. Bay considering that RDAs for pregnant women are 300-360mg/day magnesium and 90mg/day ascorbic acid, these results seem to indicate that the RDAs for these nutrients are insufficient for women of reproductive age.
Keywords: Nutrition, Micronutrients, OFC risk, Pregnancy, Abortion
