• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.52-59
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate how advanced maternal age influences lifestyle, nutrient intake, iron status, and pregnancy outcomes in pregnant women. The subjects of this study were 112 pregnant women who were receiving prenatal care at gynecologists located in Seoul. The subjects were divided into two groups according to their ages: those over age 35 were the advanced age group of pregnant women (AP) and those under age 35 were the young age group of pregnant women (YP). General factors, nutrient intakes, iron status, and pregnancy outcomes of the two groups were then compared. It was found that 72.5% of the YP group and 51.2% of the AP group had pre-pregnancy alcohol drinking experience; indicating that the YP group had more pre-pregnancy alcohol consumption than the AP group (P<0.05). The only difference found in nutrient intake between the two groups was their niacin intakes which were $16.83{\pm}8.20\;mg$/day and $13.76{\pm}5.28\;mg$/day, respectively. When gestational age was shorter than 38.7 weeks, the average infant birth weight was $2.95{\pm}0.08\;kg$, and when gestational age was longer than 40 weeks, it averaged at about $3.42{\pm}0.08\;kg$. In other words, as gestational age increased, infant birth weight increased (P<0.0001), and when maternal weight increased more than 15 kg, the infant birth weight increased significantly (P<0.05). In conclusion, in order to secure healthy human resources, with respect to advanced aged women, it is necessary to intervene by promoting daily habits that consist of strategic increases in folate and calcium intake along with appropriate amounts of exercise.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.389-396
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• 2003

Maternal nutritional status has been shown to influence pregnancy outcomes. And the elevated maternal plasma homocysteine concentrations have been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. We investigated the effects of maternal serum levels of B vitamins and homocysteine, and the C677T MTHFR (5, 10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase) polymorphism on pregnancy outcomes. In 177 pregnant women of 24-28 wks of gestation, the MTHFR gene mutation, serum B vitamins and homocysteine concentrations were measured, and their pregnancy outcomes were investigated from medical records. The birth length, and 1- and 5-min Apgar scores of neonates in the T/T mothers were 45.4 $\pm$ 9.3 cm, 7.6 $\pm$ 3.2 and 8.5 $\pm$ 3.8, respectively, which were significantly lower than those in the C/T (48.6 $\pm$ 3.3 cm, 9.0 $\pm$ 0.2, 10.0 $\pm$ 0.2) or the C/C mothers (49.4 $\pm$ 1.9 cm, 9.0 $\pm$ 0.2, 10.0 $\pm$ 0.0). The birth weight, birth length and the gestational age of neonates at delivery from hyperhomocysteinemic mothers whose homocysteine levels higher than 15 $\mu$ mol were 2.5 $\pm$ 1.3 kg, 43.9 $\pm$ 9.0 cm, 35.4 $\pm$ 6.3 wk, respectively, which were significant lower than those from normohomocysteinemic mothers (3.1 $\pm$ 0.6 kg, 48.8 $\pm$ 3.6 cm, 38.5 $\pm$ 2.5 wk). The birth weight and birth length of neonates in mothers whose PLP levels were below the median were significantly lower than those from mothers with the PLP levels above the median. The 1- and 5-min Apgar scores of neonates were lower in mothers with the T/T MTHFR genotype than those with the C/T or C/C only when the serum PLP levels were below the median. The 1-, 5 min Apgar scores and birth length of neonates were lower in mothers with the T/T MTHFR genotype than those with the C/T or C/C only when the serum FMN levels were below the median. In conclusion, maternal B vitamin status, homocysteine and the C677T MTHFR genotype seem to have played an important role on pregnancy outcomes.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.467-475
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• 2006

The necessity of adequate pregnancy weight gain for optimal pregnancy outcome has been recognized. However, the specific components of pregnancy weight gain that might be critical for fetal growth and development have not been elucidated clearly. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation of pregnancy weight gain and birth weight with serum leptin levels in women delivered newborns. The subjects were recruited from K university hospital. The subject's characteristic data (age $32.1\;{\pm}\;4.3\;y$, gestational age $39.5\;{\pm}\;1.1wk$, pre-pregnancy weight $58.0\;{\pm}\;8.6\;kg$, pregnancy weight gain $12.7\;{\pm}\;5.5\;kg$, newborn's birth weight $3.5\;{\pm}\;0.5\;kg$) were gathered. Maternal dietary assessment was carried out at the end of pregnancy. After delivery, blood samples were collected from 20 mother-newborn pairs. Serum levels of various lipids and leptin were analyzed. Maternal daily consumption of iron, zinc, folate were lower than the RDA of each nutrient and index of nutritional quality was less than 1 showing that the quality of maternal diet was low. The levels of serum leptin of mothers and infants were $10.2\;{\pm}\;6.7\;ng/ml$ and $1.7\;{\pm}\;0.6\;ng/ml$, respectively. The serum leptin concentrations of male infants $(1.9\;{\pm}\;0.7\;ng\;ml)$ were not different from that of females $(1.7{\pm}0.5\;ng/ml)$. A negative correlation was found between the maternal pre-pregnant BMI and weight gain during pregnancy (r = -0.54, p < 0.05). There was a positive correlation between the pregnancy weight gain and the newborn's birth weight (r=0.59, p < 0.01 There were also positive correlation between newborn's birth weight and newborn's serum leptin levels (r = 0.57, p < 0.01). No correlations were found between maternal serum leptin levels and that of newborn's. Efforts should be made to attain adequate diet and weight gain during the pregnancy to reduce the likelihood of low or over birth weight of newborns.