Introduction
Nutritious food has an elemental role in shaping the outcomes of pregnancy. Food is vital in keeping the body healthy and immune, and it plays an important role in conception. The expectant mother and the baby in the womb are vulnerable to inconsistent nutritional status. Deficiencies or inadequacies in certain high-priority and decisive nutrients are determinants for birth defects in the baby. Similarly, intake or surplus of certain nutrients can also pose challenges to the baby's development in the womb.
What Is Prenatal Nutrition?
Prenatal nutrition is a broad term concerned with the expectant mother's nutrition through all the phases of conception, even encompassing the preconception period. Here, the emphasis is on the nutritional status of the expectant mother and baby in the womb. Prenatal nutrition not only influences the baby’s growth but, at the same time, it can check certain pregnancy complications. The nutritional requirements of the female body are revised during each phase of the reproductive cycle. Pregnancy is a crucial phase in every woman’s life, where another life starts to grow and develop within their body. Hence, it is often accompanied by an appreciable hike in the need for nutritious food. Taking more food does not meet the dietary requirements unless the intake is rich in the nutrients that are imperative for the baby’s development.
How Does Prenatal Nutrition Impact Fetal Development?
Various studies have concluded the critical role of prenatal nutrition in establishing normal growth in the baby. Babies start their life in the mother’s womb, acquiring nutrients and life-sustaining oxygen from the maternal body. Maternal nutrition during conception can elicit long-term disabilities or impairment in the baby. Many such disabilities induced by nutritional imbalances are irreversible and result in permanent impairments.
Maternal nutritional status can potentially induce changes in the baby’s genetic makeup. Genes are critical and susceptible units that cannot afford the slightest change. Fetal programming is the scientific term that denotes the genetic alterations evoked by the aberrant nutritional status of the expectant mother. Maternal nutritional disparities can influence the blood flow to the baby in the womb, which can precipitate grave outcomes.
Compromised prenatal nutrition status can result in a low birth weight baby, where the baby lacks the normal body weight a newborn should have at the time of delivery. Five pounds and eight ounces is marked to be the critical borderline weight that demarcates a normal baby from a low birth weight baby, where the latter one falls behind the specified weight. Severe nutritional deficit can even result in stillbirth, where the baby will be born lifeless. Such conditions are mentally agonizing and traumatic for the mother.
Certain adult-onset diseases also develop due to the inadequate nutritional status of the mother at the time of conception. To balance inadequate maternal nutrition, there will be remarkable growth restriction in the fetus (baby in the womb) so that the baby adjusts to the depleted nutritional status. A fetus exposed to maternal nutritional insufficiencies develops functional irregularities like intensified insulin (a hormone that aids in keeping track of blood sugar level within the healthy parameter) sensitivity. In addition, there will be a significant compromise in the growth of nerve, muscle, and bone cells, which can bring in various inborn cardiovascular, metabolic, or bone ailments.
Nutritional optimization of women who are planning for conception aids in creating an environment that favors the healthy development of the baby, even before getting embedded into the specific site in the womb. Once the female ovum and male sperm fuse (fertilization process), it results in a fertilized egg, which has the potential to develop into a healthy baby. The nutritional condition of the uterus (womb) and fallopian tube (passage-like structure linking the ovary and uterus) significantly influence the growth process taking place in the fertilized egg. Hence, the fetal risk of developing anomalies and developmental disparities that initiate within the first few weeks, particularly within the 10 weeks, can be narrowed down by optimizing nutritional status.
Suppose the mother's body receives nutrients sufficient to nurture the maternal body and preserve maternal health. In that case, the expectant mother’s body takes up what is required for the maternal body without considering fetal nutrition. The maternal body’s prime concern is the well-being of the maternal body. In the event of a maternal nutritional crisis, the placenta (nutritional and oxygen connection between the mother and baby) restrains and curbs the nutritional opportunity for the fetus.
What Are the Key Nutrients That Can Impact Fetal Development?
Certain key nutrients need to be incorporated into the prenatal diet in the specified proportion to ensure a successful pregnancy with a healthy baby. Some of the indispensable and decisive nutrients for the prenatal period include the following:
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Folic Acid: It is a crucial nutrient and is advised even before conception. Folic acid ensures the prompt development of the baby’s spine and brain. Maternal deficiency or inadequacy in folic acid is recognized as the prime culprit behind certain birth defects, particularly neural tube defects (giving rise to anomalous brain and spinal cord), in the fetus. These developmental issues arise within the first four weeks of conception, which mandates the need for folic acid supplements even before conception.
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Calcium: Adequate calcium supplementation ensures proper bone formation in the growing fetus. Inadequacy in maternal calcium level can bring in alarming outcomes like stillbirth, stunted and arrested fetal growth, premature birth, and abortions. It can even precipitate complications in the maternal body like pre-eclampsia (pregnancy-induced hike in blood pressure) and gestational diabetes (pregnancy-induced hike in blood sugar proportion). The maternal diet should be augmented with vitamin D supplementation to enhance calcium uptake.
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Iron: Inadequacy in iron intake can bring about anemia (collapsed red blood cell count). During pregnancy, there will be appreciable inflation in the blood volume to accommodate fetal circulation. Therefore, there will be an enhanced iron requirement. Maternal anemia is an alarming condition that can precipitate complications like stillbirth and low birth weight babies.
Certain clinical studies have suggested that incorporating protein-enriched food materials like cereals, fresh vegetables, whole grains, and fruits in the regular diet of pregnant women, particularly during the initial phase of pregnancy, considerably collapses the possibility for fetal complications in the form of stillbirth, and premature birth.
Conclusion
Prenatal nutrition is a highly influential factor that can significantly impact the developing baby. Dietary changes and nutritional focus should begin with pregnancy planning rather than focusing after conception. It provides a healthy environment for the fertilization and implantation process. Exposure to a healthy environment within the womb is crucial for the baby’s initial growth. Pregnant women and those planning for pregnancy should discuss with their medical professional the necessary dietary guidelines that must be adhered to throughout the pregnancy to shape the pregnancy outcome. Healthy and nutritious food is the best and most effective way to a healthy pregnancy as it can directly influence the baby in the womb.
