Study on Prenatal Nutrition and Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs)

A new study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests boosting pregnant women's nutrition may have the twin benefits of immediately improving pregnancy outcomes and reducing the risk of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in future generations.

Prenatal nutrition may affect a person's epigenetic development and, as a result, their chance of developing NCDs in later life. Therefore, Mia M. Blakstad and colleagues calculated the effect of prenatal supplementation with calcium, various micronutrients, or iron and folic acid (IFA) at 50%, 75%, or 90% coverage on subsequent NCDs by age and sex.

Researchers analyzed secondary data sources from 132 countries for this study to estimate how many cases of diabetes, hypertension, and deaths from particular NCDs may be prevented or postponed with increased prenatal vitamin supplementation.

Key Findings

• If mothers received MMS prenatally at a 90% coverage rate, more than 51,000 NCD deaths, 6 million instances of hypertension, and 3 million cases of diabetes may be avoided globally in every childbirth cohort.
• These figures would be about 50% for IFA. 90% calcium supplementation might prevent 51,000 fatalities in each cohort of births.
• According to this model, increasing the amount of moms who receive prenatal micronutrient supplements might significantly reduce the number of NCD-related fatalities, as well as cases of hypertension and diabetes, in future generations.

Conclusion

In order to ensure adequate and sustained investments by governments and donors, attention from policymakers, and programmatic integration to improve coverage for those in need, it is essential to highlight the additional benefits of tried-and-true nutrition interventions, particularly those with the potential to address short-, medium-, and long-term nutrition and health outcomes. Clinical and public health initiatives to scale up prenatal micronutrient supplementation should be prioritized since the twin costs of illness and malnutrition are on the rise. These initiatives may be framed as performing double- or triple-duty.

Reference

Blakstad, M. M., Fawzi, W. W., Castro, M. C., Thompson, A., Arabi, M., & Danaei, G. (2022). Scaling up prenatal nutrition could reduce the global burden of noncommunicable diseases in the next generation: a modeling analysis. In The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Oxford University Press (OUP). https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqac214