ABSTRACT
In modern society, health, medicine, and nutrition are domains where traditional knowledge and beliefs, based on thousands of years of observation and experience, are still preserved and practiced. It has been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) that traditional medicine can play a significant role in the extension of health services, particularly in remote rural areas, and in the domain of maternal and child health. Nutritional status before, during, and after pregnancy often turns out to be a major predisposing factor in determining postpartum morbidity. This chapter is an attempt to provide a review and an evaluation of ethnic postpartum nutritional practices of India. It presents a broad overview of selected traditional Indian postpartum foods, their food functions, the special food formulations/supplements through which these foods are consumed, and the nutritive content in them. An analysis of the nutritive content of the food provides a basis for evaluating the traditional food practices from the perspective of immunity and infection.
