A new study suggests that a ‘startling’ number of moms-to-be are not getting essential nutritients they need to ensure healthy pregnancies. Their diets are deficient in vitamins and minerals in spite of ‘the usual pre-natal supplements’…
It may sounds ridiculous to many that a ‘startling’ number of pregnant women in Western Society are not getting sufficient nutrition to ensure healthy development of their babies and maintain their own health…
Bad eating habits to blame
But researchers from the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, writing in the The Journal of Nutrition, say they’ve discovered that previous studies of what pregnant women are eating may have been flawed, in a number of ways. And that’s led to false and misleading ‘readings’ of their nutritional profiles.
“Most surveys only track diet over a day or two – but if you feel off one day and don’t eat much, or have a big celebratory meal over the weekend, that can skew the data,” study report Lead Author Dr. Sandra Kleinberg observes. “By looking at a longer time period, and using photos to track diet and nutrition, we’re able to get a much richer and more precise picture of what people actually ate.”
What they did
Kleinberg and her team asked a study group composed of pregnant women to go about their regular daily routines. But rather than have subjects write down everything they ate over given periods of time, as previous studies have done, the Stevens team asked subjects to simply snap a ‘platie’ photo of every meal and snack they consumed.
In fact, the team ‘commissioned’ before-and-after photos of everything subjects ate over two 14-day periods. The method – as hoped – proved much more accurate than the ‘diary’ protocol in recording what and when they ate. And was much easier for subjects to follow.
What they found
The team was shocked to find that over 90 percent of pregnant individuals are potentially failing to get enough iron, vitamin D, or vitamin E from the food they eat. And over one-third could be short of calcium, vitamin C, and vitamin A. ‘Troublingly’, they report, almost two-thirds of pregnant people were also found to be getting insufficient dietary folate – a critical nutrient that helps prevent brain and spinal birth defects.
“Some people eat really well, and others don’t — so if you just take an average, it looks like every-thing’s fine,” Kleinberg explains. “This study suggests that in reality, an alarming number of pregnant people may not be getting the nutrients they need from their food.”
The takeaway
More research is needed to confirm and flesh-out the details of the study, Kleinberg stresses. But it’s clear that other researchers have to look at the way they’ve been assessing dietary intake in studies such as the Stevens survey. And make the necessary changes in their own study protocols to ensure accurate ‘readings’.
The Stevens findings also suggest that some previous studies should be re-run under the new ‘platie’ method, to check the accuracy of their findings.
My take
I was shocked to see that the Stevens survey results were so different from those of previous find-ings, relying only on the ‘diary’ method of reporting what subjects had eaten.
But I was even more shocked – and concerned – when I considered how far ‘off’ the previous studies may have been in their conclusions. And how inaccurate the advice and information doctors have been giving their pregnant patients may have been…
~ Maggie J.