Nitrogen balance and δ 15 N: why you're not what you eat during pregnancy

Abstract

Carbon ( 13 C/ 12 C) and nitrogen ( 15 N/ 14 N) stable isotope ratios were longitudinally measured in human hair that reflected the period from pre‐conception to delivery in 10 pregnant women. There was no significant change in the δ 13 C results, but all subjects showed a decrease in δ 15 N values (−0.3 to −1.1‰) during gestation. The mechanisms causing this decrease in hair δ 15 N have not been fully elucidated. However, since the δ 15 N values of dietary nitrogen and urea nitrogen are significantly lower compared to maternal tissues, it is hypothesized that the increased utilization of dietary and urea nitrogen for tissue synthesis during pregnancy resulted in a reduction of the steady state diet to a body trophic level effect by approximately 0.5–1‰. An inverse correlation (R 2 = 0.67) between hair δ 15 N and weight gain was also found, suggesting that positive nitrogen balance results in a reduction of δ 15 N values independent of diet. These results indicate that δ 15 N measurements have the ability to monitor not only dietary inputs, but also the nitrogen balance of an organism. A potential application of this technique is the detection of fertility patterns in modern and ancient species that have tissues that linearly record stable isotope ratios through time. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.