Importance of nutrition in pregnant women

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Sara Eloísa Del Castillo-Matamoros, Universidad Nacional de Colombia; Nathalie E. Poveda, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2021-12-30
• Publisher: Federación Colombiana de Asociaciones de Obstetricia y Ginecología
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2021 FECOLSOG
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.18597/rcog.3825
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Revista Colombiana de Obstetricia y Ginecología
• Volume: 72
• Issue: 4
• Start Page: 343
• End Page: 345
• Grant/Funding Information: None declared
• Keywords: Gynecologic surgery; Pregnancy; Nutrition & Dietetics; Women; Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Nutrition; Health Sciences, Obstetrics and Gynecology; Health Sciences, Health Care Management; Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery

Abstract

Overweight and obesity, which are part of the espectrum of malnutrition affecting pregnant women, is approached in this issue of the Revista Colombiana de Obstetricia y Ginecología (RCOG). The authors present an ethnography-focused qualitative study designed to gain a thorough understanding of the barriers faced by overweight pregnant women in achieving an adequate diet and, consequently, adequate food intake during gestation. This study concludes that there are five barriers, including proximal factors (such as feeding habits mediated and influenced by family and cultural factors, current health status or health status during previous pregnancies, and awareness of the adverse effects of excess weight), intermediate factors related to care during pregnancy (such as the role played by healthcare providers in terms of dietary and nutritional education), and structural factors such as poverty. There is a need to recognize the importance and complexity of nutrition during pregnancy given that it is a state of greater nutritional vulnerability unlike other stages of a woman's life, and which also underpins the future health and nutritional status of her fetus, determining, to a large extent, future health in adult life.