Abstract It has long been recognized that weight gain during pregnancy is one of the most important maternal factors predictive of infant birth weight.1 Maternal nutrition and weight gain during pregnancy are becoming increasingly important foci as we debate means of reducing the high incidence of low birth weight and neonatal mortality among children born in the United States. Recently, the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health and Resources Development of the US Department of Health and Human Services requested that the National Academy of Sciences undertake a study of maternal nutrition during pregnancy. The Committee on Nutritional Status During Pregnancy and Lactation was formed by the Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine. The portions of the Committee's report referred to in this piece are contained in the volume, Nutrition During Pregnancy,1 and were prepared by the Subcommittee on Nutritional Status and Weight Gain During Pregnancy. This volume References 1. US Institute of Medicine Subcommittee on Nutritional Status and Weight Gain During Pregnancy . Nutrition During Pregnancy . Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 1990. 2. Child Health USA '90 . Washington, DC: US Public Health Service; 1990:15. US Dept of Health and Human Services publication HRS-M-CH-90-1. 3. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Statistics of the United States, 1988,1: Natality . Washington, DC: US Public Health Service; 1990. US Dept of Health and Human Services publication PHS 90-1100. 4. Gortmaker SL, Dietz WH, Sobol AM, Wehler CA. Increasing pediatric obesity in the United States . AJDC . 1987;141:535-540. 5. Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives . Washington, DC: US Public Health Service; 1990. US Dept of Health and Human Services publication PHS 91-50212. 6. Kramer MS. Determinants of low birth weight: methodological assessment and meta-analysis . Bull World Health Organ . 1987;65:663-737. 7. Stevens-Simon C, McAnarney ER. Adolescent maternal weight gain and low birth weight: a multifactorial model . Am J Clin Nutr . 1988;47: 948-953. 8. Garn SM, Petzold AS. Characteristics of the mother and child in teenage pregnancy . AJDC . 1983;137:365-368. 9. Slonaker JR. The effect of different amounts of sexual indulgences in the albino rat . Am J Physiol . 1927;82:318-327. 10. Cole HH, Hart GH. The effect of pregnancy and lactation on growth in the rat . Am J Physiol . 1938;123:589-597. 11. Stander HJ, Pastore JB. Weight changes during pregnancy and puerperium . Am J Obstet Gynecol . 1940;39:928-937. 12. Cederlöf R, Kaij L. The effect of childbearing on body-weight . Acta Psychiatr Scand Suppl. 1970;219:47-49.Crossref 13. Greene GW, Smiciklas-Wright H, Scholl TO, Karp RJ. Postpartum weight change: how much of the weight gained in pregnancy will be lost after delivery? Obstet Gynecol . 1988;71:701-707. 14. Stevens-Simon C, McAnarney ER. Adolescent pregnancy: gestational weight gain and maternal and infant outcomes . AJDC . 1992;146: 1359-1364.
American Journal of Diseases of Children – American Medical Association
Published: Sep 1, 1993