Maternal health, nutrition key to healthy babies

CHENNAI: A `lifecycle' approach to women's health that begins with childhood and continues through maternity is vital to ensure a generation of healthy babies, says Meharban Singh, former Professor and Head, Department of Paediatrics, All– India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

Addressing a press conference, Dr. Singh said the well–established linkage between poor maternal health and infant mortality and morbidity required to be addressed from the perspective of the girl child's status in society. Dr. Meharban was here on Saturday to participate in a seminar organised by the Obstetric and Gynaecological Society of Southern India and Indian Academy of Paediatrics.

He says the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau estimates that one–third of Indian women weigh less than 40 kg and are less than 5 feet and almost 75 per cent of adolescent girls have nutritional anaemia. Due to poor maternal health and nutrition, a pressing public health issue in the country, every fourth baby born in the country suffers from low birth weight or weighs less than 2.5 kg at birth and around 50 per cent of children below five years of age are undernourished or stunted.

Citing various studies, Dr. Singh said stunted children are likely to develop into physically weak and mentally sluggish adults with lack of vigour and enthusiasm. They are at increased risk of developing diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure and coronary artery disease during adulthood. He called for education of teenagers with focus on family life, reproductive health and mother craft to prevent early marriage and teenage pregnancy.

Mothers, Dr. Singh said, should be encouraged to take extra calories, proteins and micronutrients like iron, folic acid and vitamins during pregnancy and lactation. This phase is associated with a significant increase in nutritional requirements, which is impossible to meet through food alone and require supplements.

The importance of extra calories cannot be overemphasised as almost 70 per cent of the human brain is developed during foetal life.

Omega–3 essential fatty acids and decosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which are present in some edible oils, fish and vegetables, are crucial for the development of brain as they account for over 50 per cent weight of the brain and the retina.

The World Health Organisation's recommended intake is 2.6 gm per day of Omega–3 fatty acids and 300 mg per day of DHA during pregnancy. Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for the first six months of the child on the basis of the body of evidence of the human milk's immense immunological and health–promoting benefits.

Dr. Singh said new evidence showed that breastfed babies had a significant 8 IQ points more than formula–fed infants.

The quality of breast milk depends on the mother's intake of nutritional supplements with sufficient amount of micronutrients. Commonly, low–birth weight babies can be nursed to grow into normal adults with good supportive care.

Only 10 per cent of babies develop congenital defects and intra–uterine infections that lead to sub–optimal adulthood.