These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: [The role of maternal nutrition in determining birth weight].
    Author: Belaisch J, Lazar P, Papoz L, Papiernik E.
    Journal: J Gynecol Obstet Biol Reprod (Paris); 1982; 11(1):64-7. PubMed ID: 7096954.
    Abstract:
    Studies conducted in Europe immediately after World War 2, and studies conducted during the 1960s and the early 1970s in developing countries showed that poor maternal nutrition during pregnancy was closely associated to low birth weight and to risk of prematurity. Recent studies have yielded different results. The most important of these studies was conducted between 1970-80 among 3 groups of black women in New York City : a control group, a group receiving caloric supplements, and a group receiving protein supplements. No significant differences were observed in the birth weights of the infants in the different groups; moreover, infants born into the group with protein supplements had a higher percentage of prematurity and of neonatal mortality. Other recent studies conducted in Canada, Taiwan, Guatemala, India, Scotland, and France corroborate these findings. On the whole it seems that better maternal nutrition can decrease the risk of low birth weight only in cases of very serious malnutrition, or at 1600-1800 calories/kilogram/day. Maternal nutrition during pregnancy plays a limited role in birth weight; other factors, such as overwork and physical stress, seem to be more important.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]