British women should go on healthy diets years before getting pregnant, new research suggests.
The vast majority of women of reproductive age are not nutritionally prepared for pregnancy and put the long-term health of their children at risk, according to a series of three papers published in medical journal The Lancet.
Those planning to start a family are advised to make lifestyle changes such as cutting out alcohol and taking dietary supplements approximately three months before attempting to conceive.
Researchers analysed data on 509 women aged 18 to 42 who participated in the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey. It found that large numbers of young women smoke, drink too much alcohol, are overweight or obese and don’t consume an adequate amount of fruit and vegetables.
Of the women aged 26 to 30 in the group, not one of them was getting the recommended one microgram per day of vitamin B12 – which is essential to the healthy development of a baby’s nervous system.
In total, 96 per cent were found to have iron and folate deficiencies below the recommendation for pregnancy.
Lead author of the series, Professor Judith Stephenson, told the Standard: “Many women and men are not aware that there are actions they can take before becoming pregnant that are important for their babies health as well as their own health. All women planning a pregnancy should take folic acid tablets daily.
“Stop smoking, or cut down if quitting is too hard. Eat a healthy diet including more fruit and vegetables and less junk food, and achieve a healthy weight before becoming pregnant. All of these things are really important.
“The message is: don’t wait until you are pregnant to make healthy lifestyle changes, take action before becoming pregnant as this will bring more benefit for your health and your baby’s health,” she added.
Evidence suggests that poor lifestyle choices such as high alcohol intake and obesity can cause genetic, cellular, metabolic and physiological changes during the development of the unborn baby. This can have lasting consequences into adulthood and increase the child’s lifelong risk of diseases.
“Better understanding of the underlying mechanisms – including epigenetic, cellular, metabolic, or physiological effects – and the exposures that drive them, will be important and help define preconception health recommendations in the future,” said Professor Keith Godfrey, NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre and University of Southampton, UK.
