In Pregnancy and Lactation

Nutritional requirements during pregnancy are increased due to the laying of tissues in the fetus and the mother. The fetus would of necessity require proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, all obtained from the mother. The weight of the mother per se would also increase due to uterine hypertrophy, formation of the placenta and breast
development. To be adequately prepared for the subsequent lactation, she would also accumulate fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. These increased nutritional demand of pregnancy may be met in many cases simply by an enhanced balanced diet. Nonetheless, in developing countries, where a significant proportion of women go into pregnancy with borderline nutritional stores and because individuals undoubtedly vary widely in their requirements, the challenge is how to manipulate nutritional intakes with selected supplementation in order to achieve optimum cost benefits. Dietary advice to pregnant woman should be based on the following considerations: (1) they should have ample intake of easily available and affordable food products salted to taste that she is used to and has always enjoyed eating; (2) Generally, she should be advised to increased protein intake; (3) she should also be advised to include fruits and green leafy vegetables in her diet; (4) give iron supplement that provides 30 – 60mg daily; (5) also give folic acid supplement that provides 5 mg daily.

This is because the iron content of most diets is only marginally adequate for women. And as pregnancy and lactation increase requirement for folate, nutritional anaemia is common in pregnancy and lactation. In addition foods rich in calcium and vitamin D where necessary are advised. Iron and folic acid supplementation during pregnancy is commonly practiced to prevent maternal anaemia, which is often caused by iron deficiency. This is mainly because the iron requirement during pregnancy almost 3 times that required for nonpregnant women of childbearing age, is difficult to meet from dietary sources alone. Another reason for supplementation is that anaemia caused by iron deficiency alone or in combination with other factors, e.g folate deficiency, vitamin A deficiency and malaria have several negative s effects on maternal and fetal heath. Therefore , anaemia prevention through iron supplementation will improve reproductive outcomes.