ABSTRACT
The importance of maternal nutrition during gestation with regard to pregnancy outcome has long been acknowledged. The tendency of mothers to brie•y overhaul their lifestyle and diet is a classic one, with many women changing their habits and abandoning many of their vices, such as alcohol and caffeine drinking or cigarette smoking. This importance has been further emphasized in the recent new understanding of fetal programming on adult outcomes demonstrated by numerous laboratory and epidemiological studies. We are only beginning to understand how maternal nutrition and intrauterine environment may impact not only immediate pregnancy outcomes, but also the life and health course of the offspring. We need a better understanding of diet and dietary supplements during pregnancy and of whether diets are particularly low in some nutrients. Also, we need to understand how common epigenetic variations in•uence nutrient requirements during these periods. Associations between maternal nutrition and infant growth and development suggest that improving the diets of women of child-bearing age might be an important component of public health strategies aimed at improving the health, nutrition, and well-being of women themselves, as well as reducing the burden of chronic disease in their offspring.
