Modern diets are leaving expectant mothers deficient in vitamins and nutrients crucial for sustaining healthy pregnancies and foetal development, new research suggests.
The comprehensive study, conducted by scientists at the University of Southampton and across the world, found that 90% of pregnant women from high-income countries including the UK, New Zealand and Singapore lack vitamins essential in supporting pregnancy and the healthy development of a foetus.
It revealed that many of these essential nutrients are found in abundance in meat and dairy products, and that the deficiencies correlated with the rise of the so-called ‘Modern Diet’: an increased consumption of plant-based alternatives and a shift away from the consumption of meat- and dairy-rich foods.
In order to conduct their study, researchers assessed 1,729 women from high-income countries between the ages of 18 and 38, first at conception and then throughout their pregnancies.
The results revealed that nine out of ten women are deficient in one or more vitamins understood as being essential for the development of a foetus at the time of conception: riboflavin, B12 and D. In addition, it found a vitamin B6 (crucial for the healthy function of the nervous system and key for foetal development) deficiency developed for many later in pregnancy.
The outcome of the research, published in PLOS Medicine, actively challenges the notion that nutrient deficiency affects people living in underdeveloped countries alone, and suggests instead that the majority of pregnant women living in high-income countries and trying to conceive possess nutrient deficiency to some extent.
The research underscores the reality that a substantial number of women in high-income countries are nutrient deficient at the point of conception and throughout pregnancy.
In uncovering this, it highlights the need to remain mindful of the impacts of a diet shifting towards plant-based alternatives, the impact it may have on the health of a pregnancy and unborn babies and raise questions as to what can be done to reduce these deficiencies.
Sources:
University of Southampton
National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre
University of Auckland
National University of Singapore
Agency for Science, Research and Technology, Singapore.
PLOS Medicine
