The DOI matches its Crossref record; 95 of the 95 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Intervention strategies to improve nutrition and health behaviours before conception
Open accessAbstract
The nutritional status of both women and men before conception has profound implications for the growth, development, and long-term health of their offspring. Evidence of the effectiveness of preconception interventions for improving outcomes for mothers and babies is scarce. However, given the large potential health return, and relatively low costs and risk of harm, research into potential interventions is warranted. We identified three promising strategies for intervention that are likely to be scalable and have positive effects on a range of health outcomes: supplementation and fortification; cash transfers and incentives; and behaviour change interventions. On the basis of these strategies, we suggest a model specifying pathways to effect. Pathways are incorporated into a life-course framework using individual motivation and receptiveness at different preconception action phases, to guide design and targeting of preconception interventions. Interventions for individuals not planning immediate pregnancy take advantage of settings and implementation platforms outside the maternal and child health arena, since this group is unlikely to be engaged with maternal health services. Interventions to improve women's nutritional status and health behaviours at all preconception action phases should consider social and environmental determinants, to avoid exacerbating health and gender inequalities, and be underpinned by a social movement that touches the whole population. We propose a dual strategy that targets specific groups actively planning a pregnancy, while improving the health of the population more broadly. Modern marketing techniques could be used to promote a social movement based on an emotional and symbolic connection between improved preconception maternal health and nutrition, and offspring health. We suggest that speedy and scalable benefits to public health might be achieved through strategic engagement with the private sector. Political theory supports the development of an advocacy coalition of groups interested in preconception health, to harness the political will and leadership necessary to turn high-level policy into effective coordinated action.
Overview
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.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
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.
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?
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“PCC interventions often require engagement from prospective parents who are not yet thinking about becoming a parent in the future and are not yet known by maternal health services [55].”
From Associations between periconceptional lifestyle behaviours and adverse pregnancy outcomes (2021) · cites this paper as [55]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
The Dynamics of Social Practice: Everyday Life and How it Changes
Shove, E., Pantzar, M., & Watson, M. (2012) · SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks · doi:10.4135/9781446250655 · Cited by 3,800
Our future: a Lancet commission on adolescent health and wellbeing
Patton, G. C., Sawyer, S. M., Santelli, J. S., Ross, D. A., Afifi, R., Allen, N. B., Arora, M., Azzopardi, P., Baldwin, W., Bonell, C., et al. (2016) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(16)00579-1 · Cited by 3,785
Bhutta, Z. A., Das, J. K., Rizvi, A., Gaffey, M. F., Walker, N., Horton, S., Webb, P., Lartey, A., & Black, R. E. (2013) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(13)60996-4 · Cited by 3,093
Is Adolescence a Sensitive Period for Sociocultural Processing?
Blakemore, S.-J., & Mills, K. L. (2014) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115202 · Cited by 2,264 · cited 1×
“(43, 44) Adolescents typically disengage with traditional health messages, 212 prioritising the immediate over the long-term; having a strong desire for autonomy causes them to 213 reject instructive health education.(45, 46) Effective interventions with adolescents need to 214 empower and encourage by giving rather t…”
Ruel, M. T., & Alderman, H. (2013) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(13)60843-0 · Cited by 1,820
Vansteenkiste, M., Simons, J., Lens, W., Sheldon, K. M., & Deci, E. L. (2004) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.87.2.246 · Cited by 1,762
Kwasnicka, D., Dombrowski, S. U., White, M., & Sniehotta, F. (2016) · Health Psychology Review · doi:10.1080/17437199.2016.1151372 · Cited by 1,476
Self-citationWhy is changing health-related behaviour so difficult?
Kelly, M. P., & Barker, M. E. (2016) · Public Health · doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2016.03.030 · Cited by 1,138
Self-citationPreconceptional and maternal obesity: epidemiology and health consequences
Poston, L., Caleyachetty, R., Cnattingius, S., Corvalán, C., Uauy, R., Herring, S., & Gillman, M. W. (2016) · The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology · doi:10.1016/s2213-8587(16)30217-0 · Cited by 1,111
Tracking of obesity-related behaviours from childhood to adulthood: A systematic review
Craigie, A. M., Lake, A. A., Kelly, S. A., Adamson, A. J., & Mathers, J. C. (2011) · Maturitas · doi:10.1016/j.maturitas.2011.08.005 · Cited by 1,088
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The Human Microbiome and Child Growth – First 1000 Days and Beyond
Robertson, R. C., Manges, A. R., Finlay, B. B., & Prendergast, A. J. (2019) · Trends in Microbiology · doi:10.1016/j.tim.2018.09.008 · Cited by 793
Swaminathan, S., Rajkumar, H., Pandey, A., Kassebaum, N. J., Laxmaiah, A., Longvah, T., Lodha, R., Ramji, S., Kumar, G. A., Afshin, A., et al. (2019) · The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health · doi:10.1016/s2352-4642(19)30273-1 · Cited by 363
Shawe, J., Ceulemans, D., Akhter, Z., Neff, K., Hart, K. H., Heslehurst, N., Štotl, I., Agrawal, S., Steegers‐Theunissen, R. P. M., Taheri, S., et al. (2019) · Obesity Reviews · doi:10.1111/obr.12927 · Cited by 248
Self-citationMinerals and Human Health: From Deficiency to Toxicity
Razzaque, M. S., & Wimalawansa, S. J. (2025) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu17030454 · Cited by 224
Dietary guideline adherence during preconception and pregnancy: A systematic review
Caut, C., Leach, M., & Steel, A. (2019) · Maternal and Child Nutrition · doi:10.1111/mcn.12916 · Cited by 135
Metadata
- Authors
- Barker, M., Dombrowski, S. U., Colbourn, T., Fall, C. H. D., Kriznik, N. M., Lawrence, W. T., Norris, S. A., Ngaiza, G., Patel, D., Skordis-Worrall, J., Sniehotta, F. F., Steegers-Theunissen, R., Vogel, C., Woods-Townsend, K., & Stephenson, J.
- Affiliations
- Southampton General Hospital (GB)
- University of Stirling (GB)
- University College London (GB)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- University of the Witwatersrand (ZA)
- United Kingdom Clinical Research Collaboration (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Stephenson, Judith
- ORCID
- Venue
- The Lancet
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-05
- Volume
- 391
- Issue
- 10132
- Pages
- 1853-1864
- ISSN
- 0099-5355 (ISSN-L)
- 0140-6736
- PMC
- PMC6075694
- OpenAlex
- W2794603072
- Cited by
- 377
- References
- 95
- Citations by year
- 2026: 23 · 2025: 43 · 2024: 40 · 2023: 51 · 2022: 57 · 2021: 48 · 2020: 56 · 2019: 44 · 2018: 13
- FWCI
- 7.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Lancet (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (acceptedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion)
- Stirling Online Research Repository (University of Stirling) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- University of Birmingham Research Portal (University of Birmingham) (submittedVersion)
- Apollo (University of Cambridge) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Apollo
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (097899/A/11/Z, 097899/Z/11/Z)
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (DRF-2011-04-015, NF-SI-0513-10099)
- British Heart Foundation (PG/14/33/30827)
- Academy of Medical Sciences (HOP001\1067)
- Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia
- Medical Research Council (MC_PC_MR/R018545/1, MR/K02325X/1, MR/J000094/1, MC_UU_12011/4, MC_UU_12011/3, MR/N011848/1)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Public Health and Nutrition
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Maternal and Neonatal Healthcare
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Global Maternal and Child Health
- Keywords
- preconception health, maternal nutrition, preconception interventions, behaviour change interventions, life course framework, social determinants of health, gender inequality, social movements, advocacy coalitions, private sector participation, health policy, offspring outcomes
- MeSH terms
- Female, Financial Support, Humans, Pregnancy, Public Health, Public Policy, Health Behavior, Preconception Care, Prenatal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
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
