NUTRITION FOR FETAL GROWTH

Genetics has little if anything to do with birth weight. A 1995 study examined 62 cases of egg donor pregnancies. The birth weight of the baby was not correlated with the donor’s weight, the donor’s birth weight, or the birth weights of the donor’s other children; it was, however, correlated with the recipient’s weight.⁶¹ This study shows that birth weight is determined by the environment that the womb provides rather than the genome present at conception.

An intake of meat protein below 25 grams per day during late pregnancy and an intake of carbohydrate above 265 grams per day during early pregnancy are associated with a decrease in birth weight. A low intake of animal protein relative to carbohydrate is also associated with an increase of blood pressure at forty years of age.⁶² In order to obtain adequate glycine for growth, meat and egg protein should be balanced with the liberal use of liver, skin, bone broths, legumes and green vegetables.

The use of cod liver oil is independently associated with birth weight.43 Seven out of twelve trials have shown folic acid supplementation to increase birth weight.50 Iron deficiency compromises fetal growth,⁴⁶ and a major deficiency in any vitamin or mineral is likely to do the same.

In general, the role of vitamins and minerals in providing for robust fetal growth is understudied and probably much more important than the scarcity of the available literature would suggest.