Focus on the role of nutrition during pregnancy has been increasing over the last ten years. The situation is attributed to the rising cases of overnutrition associated with high obesity rates in developed nations. In contrast, a significant proportion of pregnant women living in underdeveloped countries suffer from undernutrition and cases of maternal and child mortality rates are quite high. The notion that pregnant women should eat for two or more in the case of multiple pregnancies is not new. However, it is no excuse for overindulgence in unhealthy foods that may be dangerous for mother or child or both. Proper maternal nutrition requires women to consume balanced diets comprising of fats, vitamins, minerals, proteins, and carbohydrates that are adequate for their personal sustenance and fetal growth and development (Morrison, & Regnault, 2016) . Health practitioners have developed a pregnancy dietary chart with different categories of food indicating their benefits to pregnant women and expected proportion to aid pregnant women in making proper food choices. A woman eating the right daily calorie intake before pregnancy is required to add 300 calories for the child after pregnancy and this figure increases per child in the case of multiple pregnancies. However, many pregnant women encounter difficulties pursuing proper maternal nutrition. Therefore, it is important to discuss how nutrition plays a vital role during pregnancy to increase awareness on this issue.
Foremost, getting adequate nutrients during pregnancy helps in safeguarding the health of the mother and contributes to the normal development of the baby. Proper nutrition is critical during implantation and placenta development to ensure the establishment of the favorable ultra-uterine environment to facilitate the transfer of adequate food and oxygen from mother to fetus throughout pregnancy. The ability of the mother to avail nutrients and oxygen to the fetus is vital for the fetal and maternal health and survival. Undernutrition affects the placenta inhibiting the exchange of substances between mother and fetus, thus causes the birth of undernourished babies. Proteins are particularly an essential source of nutrients that support placental growth and overall fetal development and can be obtained from beans, nuts, milk, and poultry. On the other hand, fats are important in facilitating brain development, functioning of the immune system, helping in blood clotting and ensuring that the body utilizes vitamins A, D, E, and K. Pregnant teenagers are at a higher risk of undernutrition because their developing bodies compete with the fetus for nutrition and the resultant effect is the high rates of delivery of underweight babies or preterm delivery in this demographic. Over-nutrition also has a disastrous effect on fetal development as it causes the consumption of excessive calories that can lead to weight problems for the mother and obesity is the eventuality of this challenge. Obesity is linked to several pregnancy complications including stillbirth, restricted fetal development, miscarriages, gestational diabetes, high blood pressure , and congenital defects among others issues (Ramakrishnan et al., 2012) . Moreover, babies may also develop obesity and diabetes problems later in life.
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Besides, proper nutrition increases the guarantee of safe deliveries for pregnant mothers. Women who have the right nutrition have a lower risk of miscarriages or pre-term births because their bodies are strong enough to carry pregnancies to full-term. Carbohydrates like sugar and maple syrup, and fats give the body enough energy to move around or undertake the normal birthing process, while Vitamin A helps with the post-mortem repair after normal delivery. Obese women often give birth through cesarean section due to the huge fat deposits around the stomach and their legs, and surgeries are complicated as the doctors try to bypass the stomach fat (Machado, 2012). Although there is no guarantee that proper nutrition will lead to safe deliveries, pregnant women have a chance to somewhat design their destiny during pregnancy and improve their survival rate.
Additionally, proper nutrition reduces the risk of birth defect rates among pregnant women. Birth defects refer to physical or mental abnormalities that may first be noticed during pregnancy or after birth. Factors causing birth defects include genetics, environmental factors, and twinning, and matters related to nutrition falls into the category of environmental elements. Poor nutrition increases the vulnerability of children to diseases immediately after birth or later in life and other complicated birth defects. This can be achieved by use of supplements like folic acid to enhance effective development of the spinal cord and the brain. The protective impact of the folic acid is to minimize birth defects. Vitamins B is need to be taken before and during early pregnancies to eliminate birth defects of the brain and spinal cords. Carbohydrates also help in reducing the occurrence of birth defects like spina and bifida. The unavailability of vital nutrients for pregnant women in Africa adversely affects their fetus with newborn babies. For example, a research in Nigeria amongst pregnant women with iron and Vitamin A and D deficiencies are diagnosed with diseases like night-blindness, anemia, hypertension, and perinatal mortality. Since the birth of the baby is dependent on the type of nutrition the mother takes. For example, mothers who consume a lot of proteins may end up giving birth to overweight babies. Such incidences may affect the normal delivery where one will have to undergo a caesarian section.
It is recommended that expectant mothers take a diversified meal at a frequency of minimum three times a day. Also, it is essential for them to have access to sanitary settings, clean water, and antenatal services to ensure that their bodies are kept fit. Women who are undernourished fail to deliver healthy babies leading to an increase in the problem of an intergenerational cycle of undernourished people. There are cases where expectant mothers exhibit low body mass index which is a sign of minimal tissue nutrient reserves that leads to retarded intrauterine growth, low birth weight, cognitive impairment, and infant morbidity.
Birth outcomes can be improved by micronutrient supplementation during pregnancy. Pregnant women are classified as vulnerable populations because they face many risks that adversely affect their health such as preeclampsia and high blood pressure because of their conditions. Even when these women consume balanced diets, doctors often recommend for the consumption of micronutrient supplementation prescribed in the form of prenatal vitamins to increase their overall nutritional value. Examples of these supplements include folic acid and iodine among others. There is a recommendation that women consuming drugs should take daily supplements before, during, and after pregnancy to meet the daily dietary requirements. The supplements are not substitutes for good nutrition, instead, they aid pregnant mothers to obtain essential nutrients that may be absent in their diets. Health practitioners tend to stress on iodine supplements because lack of this nutrient causes neurological disorders and spontaneous abortion. Iron assists in the transportation of oxygen throughout the body. It aids brain development, immunity, and the physical performance of the body. Pregnant women experience an increase of blood levels in their bodies thus need for more iron to facilitate transportation of oxygen. A majority of women enter pregnancy with low levels of iron reserve and this puts them at risk of developing anemia due to deficiency of red blood cell. The benefits of these supplements include healthy bone and teeth development, anti-oxidants, aid in digestion, and rising of energy levels. Supplements are required to ensure that the frequency and severity of pregnancy complications are minimized.
Low and middle-income nations are recommended to provide supplements to pregnant mothers to avoid adverse pregnancy outcomes and deficiency in nutrients. This is because many women living in rural areas have inadequate financial resources to afford to purchase the supplements. Sometimes, micronutrient supplements are administered to lactation mothers to ensure young babies get adequate nutritional requirements for faster growth ( Picciano, & McGuire, 2008) . However, it is important to note that such goals cannot be accomplished without the aid of development partners and global health bodies like World Health Organization (WHO).
Pregnant women suffering from chronic illnesses and other epidemics require an extra nutritional value for their safety and that of the child. Poor maternal nutrition intake has negative effects on a fetal genetic growth trajectory and fetal growth restriction in all situations-and the problem is worse for such women. Under-nutrition during the gestation period is dangerous because it can lead to the conception of smaller babies and reduced placental length. For example, hunger-stricken pregnant women have a high level of glucose intolerance that exposes the mother and the baby to higher risks. However, ill mothers find it more difficult to keep up with the nutritional needs and may be underweight, while others use food as a refuge for their situations and develop obesity in the long-run. For HIV positive women, it is essential for them to consume healthy food and micronutrient supplements for baby development and follow doctors’ orders to avoid passing the disease to the young ones. Since these women still use the recommended drugs, their bodies should be strong to handle the medication and pregnancy concurrently.
Maternal undernutrition is noticeable among women residing in resource-poor settings. These women are mostly malnourished due to inadequate intake of nutrients and this results to malnourished children who are anemic and underweight. A majority of women affected by deficiencies in nutrients come from low and middle-income nations because of the unavailability of resources, hence subject children to chronic diseases in their adult life. Pregnant women are supposed to meet the prescribed dietary requirements that are necessary for meeting fetal demands. Adequate maternal nutrition supply assists in enhancing effective fetal growth because the placenta is able to supply the required nutrients and oxygen to the fetus.
Finally, pregnant women should observe several special considerations directly related to a matter affecting their nutrition. Foremost, pregnant women are advised to avoid consuming caffeine, alcohol and smoking because such intakes are detrimental to fetal nutrition, growth, and development ( Cetin, & Laoreti, 2015) . Doctors discourage the consumption of these products because the fetus is unable to adequately metabolize the food and it may lead to the birth of underweight children. Besides, some drugs are associated with faster weight gain among other types of dangers. Physical exercises are part of a balanced diet and pregnant women should not use their conditions as an excuse to avoid being physically active throughout pregnancy. Body exercisers are necessary in weight management and they also facilitate homeostasis particularly in diabetic women and preparation for labor. However, expectant women should not push their physical activity to the extreme to avoid putting too much pressure on their womb or miscarriages. Instead, exercise should be undertaken under the special attention of an instructor. Expectant women are vulnerable to foodborne illness like salmonella in partially prepared eggs. Also, excessive consumption of vitamin A should be avoided because of it teratogenic. The solution is simply not to overconsume or under consume. Instead, it is all about striking a balance between personal interest and what is good for the baby to find the right answer to any controversial subject on maternal nutrition.
The taking in of nutritious food is crucial during pregnancy because it assists in meeting the demands of a mother’s body and those of the growing baby. Pregnant women are supposed to have a balance of both quality and quantity of the food consumed to maximize fetal growth and development. Healthy eating requires consumption of a balanced diet that is beneficial to the fetal development and reproductive health of the mother ( Cetin, & Laoreti, 2015) . A quality diet requires a balance of macronutrients content constituting of fats, proteins and carbohydrates while micronutrients content that entail minerals and vitamins. Maternal malnutrition is a significant problem caused by intake of poor quality nutrients with reduced level of micronutrients that affect the pregnancy and its outcome. The imbalance of micronutrients during pregnancy has negative impact both on the mother and the fetus that can lead to severe reproductive risks, infertility, abnormal fetal development, fetal structural defects and long term diseases.
Pregnancy requires mothers to alter their old eating habits by developing healthy ones to fuel healthy fetal development and allow the mother to maintain a healthy weight. Women can get the best maternal nutrition by getting preconception counseling to spearhead awareness of the significance of maternal nutrition. Interventions are needed to make sure that women are prepared at the pre-pregnancy stage to be able to attain recommended parameters prior to pregnancy to enhance healthy pregnancy and conception. Moreover, nutrition of a woman during pregnancy determines the maternal health in relation to diseases and the weight of the mother, thus directly impacts the morbidity and mortality of mother and child. By consuming the right diet, pregnant women safeguard the life of the fetus before birth and assure the baby of good development throughout life.
References
Cetin, I., & Laoreti, A. (2015). The importance of maternal nutrition for health. Journal of Pediatric and Neonatal Individualized Medicine , 4 (2), 1-11.
Machado, L. S. (2012). Cesarean section in morbidly obese parturients: practical implications and complications. North American journal of medical sciences , 4 (1), 13.
Morrison, J. L., & Regnault, T. R. (2016). Nutrition in pregnancy: Optimising maternal diet and fetal adaptations to altered nutrient supply.
Picciano, M. F., & McGuire, M. K. (2008). Use of dietary supplements by pregnant and lactating women in North America–. The American journal of clinical nutrition , 89 (2), 663S-667S.
Ramakrishnan, U., Grant, F., Goldenberg, T., Zongrone, A., & Martorell, R. (2012). Effect of women's nutrition before and during early pregnancy on maternal and infant outcomes: a systematic review. Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology , 26 (s1), 285-301.
