Importance of a Healthy Diet Before Becoming Pregnant

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Importance of a healthy diet before becoming pregnant A woman’s nutritional status during pregnancy depends on the availability of nutritional reserves, that is, stores of particular micronutrients such as calcium and iron, which have been built up in her body from prior consumption of foods containing those micronutrients. As these reserves build up before a woman becomes pregnant, maintaining good nutrition prior to conception is vital for ensuring adequate nutritional status during pregnancy. Women who are underweight or overweight, or who have deficiencies in particular micronutrients rarely “catch-up” by improving their diet once they are pregnant, as at this stage their body already faces additional nutritional demands because of the growing baby. Maintaining a healthy diet prior to conception is also important because the ongoing development of the baby depends on the health of the embryo from which it is formed. The embryo is the name of the first cells which reproduce when a sperm and egg meet and conceive. The embryo then implants in the wall of the woman’s uterus (womb) and goes on to divide into two types of cells; those that form the foetus and those that form the placenta (which provides nutrition to the foetus during pregnancy). Evidence suggests that maternal nutritional status has an important influence on the proportions of cells which go on to form the foetus and placenta. In undernourished women (women who do not consume enough energy or calories), a greater proportion of cells are likely to form the placenta compared to the foetus, which means the foetus will be relatively small when it begins growth and its development in the womb will be restricted. This increases the likelihood that the baby will be too small (weigh less than 2.5kg) when it is born. Not consuming enough of particular micronutrients can also retard foetal development in

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