Frequency and Nutrient Content of Meals of the Mothers and the Birth Weight and Gestational Age of the Baby

Abstract

Background: Maternal nutrition during pregnancy is one of the most important factors for the health and the wellbeing of both mother and the baby. In spite of Reproductive Child Health (RCH) programme, the proportion of Low Birth Weight (LBW) babies continues to be at around 28% and preterm birth around 12 % with associated high mortality and morbidity. Aim and Objectives: To study the association between frequency of meals of the mother, their nutrient content and the birth weight and the gestational age of the baby. Material and Methods: A cohort of 1876 apparently healthy pregnant women registered and attending Antenatal Care (ANC) clinic of Krishna Hospital was studied to find out the maternal risk factors associated with the LBW and preterm births. Mothers with twin pregnancy were excluded. A sub sample of 380 women was taken for the in-depth study of frequency of meals and nutrient content of food of pregnant women. They were followed till delivery and the birth weight was noted on standard electronic weighing machine and the gestational age of the baby was calculated from the Last Menstrual Period (LMP). A dietary history was asked during second trimester and nutrient content of their daily diet was found out by 24-hours' recall method. If the diet was not representative of their usual food intake next eligible woman was included instead of earlier randomly chosen woman. The analysis of the data was done using SPSS version 16. Results: The change in meal pattern from 2 to 3 meals a day meant average of 291 calories, 7.4 g of protein, 27.6 mg of calcium and 0.4 mg of iron more and from 3 meals to 4 meals a day meant on an average of 374 calories, 11.3 g of protein, 181 mg of calcium and 3.7 mg of iron more. The mean birth weight increased by 443 g and the mean gestational age increased by 18 days and the proportion of LBW reduced from 100 to 57.8 % and the proportion of preterm reduced from 66.7% to 17.8 % when the frequency of meals changed from 2 to 3. There was further increase in birth weight by average of 496 g and increase in gestational age by 4.3 days and reduction in proportion of LBW from 57.8 % to 5.2% and proportion of preterm from 17 .8 to 7.4 % when number of meals increased from 3 to 4. Conclusion: There was a strong association between the frequency of meals and the daily intake of calories, proteins, calcium and iron. Significant increase in the mean birth weight and mean gestational age was associated with increasing frequency of meals from two to four. There was also a significant reduction in the proportion of LBW and preterm births.

Keywords

• Frequency of Meals
• Recall Method
• Dietary History
• Pregnant Women