NUTRITION AND PREGNANCY- CURRENT KNOWLEDGE AND FURTHER PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

Nutritional factors play an important role across the life course but also across generations. It is now well-demonstrated that nutrition and other lifestyle behaviours during pregnancy have an impact on pregnancy outcomes for both mother and neonate health, including risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and hypertension, preterm delivery, low birth weight, perinatal survival and risk of developing non- communicable diseases (NCDs) in later life. Moreover, recent researches demonstrate that nutrition can also influence germ cells through hormone changes and epigenetic mechanisms both in women and males, and thus further modify embryo and fetus development.