ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the relationships between maternal dietary and lifestyle characteristics and offspring bone mineralization. An ageing population will lead to an ever-increasing burden of osteoporosis. Thus it could be postulated that limited availability of the substrates for bone development due to nutritional depletion or impaired placental transfer is likely to impact negatively on fetal bone development. The Princess Anne Hospital Study was one of the earliest mother-offspring birth cohort studies to examine the associations between maternal diet and lifestyle and offspring bone development. This association remained statistically significant after adjustment for maternal social class, educational achievement, anthropometry and smoking status. A dietary score was calculated to quantify the consistency of dietary intake with recommendations for a healthy diet. The few randomized control trials of calcium supplementation in pregnancy have also reported inconsistent findings. Smoking during pregnancy has been linked to poorer placental function and lower birth weight, and smoking in later life has been associated with increased fracture risk.
