Importance of diet in pregnancy
- Proper diet is essential to maintain the health of the mother and the fetus during pregnancy
- Pregnancy has a total energy expenditure of 60000 kcal over and above the normal requirement
- A lactating woman requires and additional 550 kcal per day
- Average weight gain in a normal healthy pregnancy is about 12kg
- Studies indicate that the weight gain in poor women in India averaged 6.5 kg
- Maternal weight gain in pregnancy is directly related to the birth weight of the baby and the risk of infections and other complications in the infant
- Another important factor is adequate supplementation of iron and folic acid
- Maternal anemia can result in complications like intrauterine growth retardation and post partum haemorrhage
- It also results in inadequate iron stores in the infant which may predispose to anemia in the neonatal period even if the haemoglobin levels at birth were normal
- Hence it is very important to provide diet adequate in calories and nutrients during pregnancy
