CHILDREN BORN of nutritional deficiency in mothers before and after conception may suffer from the problems related to brain such as loss of memory, attention, learning, aggressiveness and depression in adolescent age.
These are the preliminary observations of a study undertaken by Dr KP Singh from Allahabad University's (AU) Department of Zoology, Dr Sharda Sinha and research scholar Deepti G Rai on the role of dietary pattern during early pregnancy and risk of neural tube defects in new-borns.
Dr Singh said, "Preconception and early maternal malnutrition is an important risk factor for the development of neural tube defects (NTD). NTDs are serious birth defects of spinal chord and the brain that occur during early pregnancy, often before a woman doesn't know whether she is pregnant."
"Fifty to seventy percent of the defects can be prevented if a woman consumes sufficient folic acid regularly before conception and throughout the first trimester of her pregnancy", he said.
Dr Singh said that the study was conducted in JC Maternity Centre under which 100 pregnant women were enrolled who had visited the clinic for the first time after conception. Each pregnant women was interviewed about her age, socio-economic status, demographic and clinical parameters.
{{/usCountry}}Dr Singh said that the study was conducted in JC Maternity Centre under which 100 pregnant women were enrolled who had visited the clinic for the first time after conception. Each pregnant women was interviewed about her age, socio-economic status, demographic and clinical parameters.
{{/usCountry}}Dr Singh explained the study and said that it was observed during the study that 100 percent of the subjects had unplanned pregnancy in relation to folic acid supplements prior to conception.
Most of the women had their first visit to the clinic after eight weeks of the conception.
They were not aware of the fact that nutritional deficiencies before and after early conception may adversely affect the implantation of embryo and neural defects.
"The brain cells get damaged due to nutritional deficiencies or use of inappropriate drugs during early pregnancy and these brain cells once damaged can not be regenerated.
Thus the foetus implantation and development is affected which may also lead to miscarriage in some cases", he said. "It is thus advisable to plan a pregnancy and use proper nutritional supplements such a folic acid under the guidance of a doctor to reduce the risk of NTDs and AUGER/Lbws", added Dr Singh.