Cited by 709Nutritional Studies and DietBirth, Development, and HealthMaternal and Neonatal Healthcare

The importance of nutrition in pregnancy and lactation: lifelong consequences

Open access
Marshall, Nicole E., Abrams, Barbara, Barbour, Linda A., Catalano, Patrick, Christian, Parul, Friedman, Jacob E., Hay, William W., Hernandez, Teri L. +7 more·2022·American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Abstract

Most women in the United States do not meet the recommendations for healthful nutrition and weight before and during pregnancy. Women and providers often ask what a healthy diet for a pregnant woman should look like. The message should be "eat better, not more." This can be achieved by basing diet on a variety of nutrient-dense, whole foods, including fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, healthy fats with omega-3 fatty acids that include nuts and seeds, and fish, in place of poorer quality highly processed foods. Such a diet embodies nutritional density and is less likely to be accompanied by excessive energy intake than the standard American diet consisting of increased intakes of processed foods, fatty red meat, and sweetened foods and beverages. Women who report "prudent" or "health-conscious" eating patterns before and/or during pregnancy may have fewer pregnancy complications and adverse child health outcomes. Comprehensive nutritional supplementation (multiple micronutrients plus balanced protein energy) among women with inadequate nutrition has been associated with improved birth outcomes, including decreased rates of low birthweight. A diet that severely restricts any macronutrient class should be avoided, specifically the ketogenic diet that lacks carbohydrates, the Paleo diet because of dairy restriction, and any diet characterized by excess saturated fats. User-friendly tools to facilitate a quick evaluation of dietary patterns with clear guidance on how to address dietary inadequacies and embedded support from trained healthcare providers are urgently needed. Recent evidence has shown that although excessive gestational weight gain predicts adverse perinatal outcomes among women with normal weight, the degree of prepregnancy obesity predicts adverse perinatal outcomes to a greater degree than gestational weight gain among women with obesity. Furthermore, low body mass index and insufficient gestational weight gain are associated with poor perinatal outcomes. Observational data have shown that first-trimester gain is the strongest predictor of adverse outcomes. Interventions beginning in early pregnancy or preconception are needed to prevent downstream complications for mothers and their children. For neonates, human milk provides personalized nutrition and is associated with short- and long-term health benefits for infants and mothers. Eating a healthy diet is a way for lactating mothers to support optimal health for themselves and their infants.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.ajog.2021.12.035

Cites

238 of 238 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Parents' psychosocial experiences become embedded in the future child's neurobiology, and parents influence children's neurodevelopment before birth.

    “As DOHaD data demonstrate, parents’ psycho-social experiences are embedded in the future child’s neurobiology. Parents affect children’s neurodevelopment before birth.”
  • Biological cues tied to the pregnant parent's health, lifestyle, nutrition, social circumstances, and mental state, which a co-parent can also influence, help shape the fetal brain.

    “The fetal brain is shaped, in part, by adaptation to biological cues related to the pregnant parent’s well-being, lifestyle, nutritional status, social factors, and mental health (each of which a co-parent can affect).11-15”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 6

  1. [2]World Health Organization. WHO antenatal care recommendations for a positive pregnancy experience. Nutritional interventions update: multiple micronutrient supplements during pregnancy. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2020. 32783435
  2. [3]National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Health and Medicine Division, Food and Nutrition Board In: Harrison M, ed. Nutrition during pregnancy and lactation: exploring new evidence: proceedings of a workshop. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2020. 32744815
  3. [24]Institute of Medicine (US) and National Research Council (US) Committee to Reexamine IOM Pregnancy Weight Guidelines In: Rasmussen KM, Yaktine AL, eds. Weight gain during pregnancy: reexamining the guidelines. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2009. 20669500
  4. [46]WHO recommendations on antenatal care for a positive pregnancy experience. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2016. 28079998
  5. [115]Barbour LA, Hernandez TL, Friedman JE. Metabolic changes during normal, obese, and GDM pregnancies. In Reece A, Coustan D, ed. Diabetes and obesity in women. Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer. https://www.amazon.com/diabetes-obesity-women-albert-reece/dp/1496390547. Accessed September 26, 2018.
  6. [195]Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Nutritional Status During Pregnancy and Lactation. Nutrition during pregnancy: part I weight gain: part II nutrient supplements. Washington, DC: National Academies Press (US); 1990. 25144018

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Marshall, N. E., Abrams, B., Barbour, L. A., Catalano, P., Christian, P., Friedman, J. E., Hay, W. W., Hernandez, T. L., Krebs, N. F., Oken, E., Purnell, J. Q., Roberts, J. M., Soltani, H., Wallace, J., & Thornburg, K. L.
Affiliations
  • Oregon Health & Science University (US)
  • University of California, Berkeley (US)
  • University of Colorado Anschutz (US)
  • Tufts University (US)
  • Johns Hopkins University (US)
  • University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (US)
  • University of Colorado Denver (US)
  • Harvard University (US)
  • University of Pittsburgh (US)
  • Sheffield Hallam University (GB)
  • University of Aberdeen (GB)
Venue
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2022-05
Volume
226
Issue
5
Pages
607-632
ISSN
0002-9378 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4200045503
Cited by
709
References
238
Citations by year
2026: 146 · 2025: 218 · 2024: 201 · 2023: 112 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 1
FWCI
15.36
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • SHURA (Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive) (Sheffield Hallam University) (acceptedVersion)
  • Aberdeen University Research Archive (Aberdeen University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
  • National Institutes of Health
  • University of Michigan
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Birth, Development, and Health
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Maternal and Neonatal Healthcare
Keywords
maternal nutrition, pregnancy, lactation, gestational weight gain, pre-pregnancy obesity, low body mass index, ketogenic diet, paleodiet, dietary habits, omega-3 fatty acids, processed foods, prenatal micronutrient supplementation, low birth weight, perinatal outcomes, breast milk, preconception care
MeSH terms
Gestational Weight Gain, Diet, Female, Humans, Lactation, Male, Nutritional Status, Obesity, Pregnancy, Vegetables, Weight Gain

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review