ABSTRACT
The most significant legacy that a woman can provide for her baby is to give it a nutritionally rich environment by eating well during pregnancy (Davies 2012). Our knowledge and understanding of nutrition in pregnancy has increased exponentially in the last few years and it is widely acknowledged that the role that maternal nutrition plays in terms of health outcomes for the baby is highly significant. This is the case in the short-term, within the peri-natal period, and also in the much longer term with regard to lifelong health and well-being (Barker 1997; Gluckman and Hanson 2004; Ramakrishnan et al. 2012). This may suggest that, far from being a routine component of healthcare assessment, nutritional assessment needs to be the one, if not primary, assessment within pregnancy.
