Maternal Nutrition and Birth Size among Urban Affluent and Rural Women in India

Background: Varying results of worldwide intervention programs to pregnant mothers necessitate the need to understand the relationship between maternal nutrition and birth size among well nourished and undernourished mothers.

Objective: To examine this relationship among urban affluent mothers and to compare the findings with those on rural Indian mothers.

Subjects: Data collected on urban affluent mothers (n = 236) was compared with rural mothers (n = 633).

Design: Mothers were contacted at 18 ± 2 and 28 ± 2 wk of gestation for anthropometry, dietary intakes [24-hr recall, Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ)] and after delivery for neonatal anthropometry.

Results: Despite large differences in nutritional status of urban and rural mothers ( pre-pregnant weight 55.9 ± 9.2 Vs 41.5 ± 5.2 kg, respectively) maternal fat intakes at 18 wk were associated with birth weight (p < 0.05), length (p < 0.01) and triceps skin fold thickness (p < 0.05) of the newborn in urban and rural mothers. Consumption of fruits was associated with birth length (p < 0.05) in urban (18wk) and with birth weight (p < 0.01) and length (p < 0.01) in rural (28wk) mothers, when their energy intakes were low. Maternal consumption of milk too, was associated with newborn's triceps (p < 0.01) in urban (28wk) while with birth weight (p < 0.05) and length (p < 0.05) in rural (18wk) mothers. The findings mainly underscore the importance of consumption of micronutrient rich foods, when energy intakes are limiting during pregnancy, for improving birth size.

Conclusions: Creating nutritional awareness and motivating rural mothers for consuming micronutrient rich foods like green leafy vegetables and seasonal fruits that are easily available in rural areas, will be a much affordable solution for combating the problem of low birth weight rather than waiting for improvement in the existing nationwide programs for pregnant women.