title: Can maternal dietary supplements help in preventing infant malnutrition?
abstract: Many nutritional intervention programmes throughout the world have targeted food supplements towards women during the "at risk" periods of pregnancy and lactation. Some of these programmes, together with a number of small-scale scientific studies, have attempted to evaluate the efficacy of supplementation in terms of birth outcome or lactational performance. After reviewing the available evidence it is concluded: (a) that supplementation during late pregnancy can have a significant beneficial effect on birthweight in women who are genuinely "at risk" due to an inadequate home diet; (b) that statistical projections would predict that the increase in birthweight should be accompanied by a significant decrease in neonatal mortality; (c) that supplementation during lactation is most unlikely to increase breast-milk output or significantly improve its composition except perhaps in extremely malnourished women. Since pregnant women form a small and easily identifiable target group, and since the potential benefits of extra food may be substantial, it is recommended that future efforts are focussed in this direction. Large-scale effectiveness and cost-benefit trials are required with neonatal mortality as the primary outcome.
authors.affiliation: Dunn Nutrition Unit, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Prentice
mesh_terms: D003906:Developing Countries; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D005317:Fetal Growth Retardation / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D007228:Infant Nutrition Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007774:Lactation; D009035:Mothers; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000379:methods