The impact of dietary counselling during pregnancy on vitamin intake and status of women and their children

Abstract

We aimed here to assess the impact of dietary counselling during pregnancy on dietary intake of vitamins and the vitamin status of women and their children. At the first trimester of pregnancy, 89 women from allergic families were randomized to a control group (n = 45) or to receive individual dietary counselling (n = 44). Women's vitamin intakes and serum concentrations were analyzed during and after pregnancy. Further, vitamin concentrations were measured from breast milk and infant serum at one month of age. The study is registered as clinical study (NCT00167000; section 3, http://www.clinicaltrials.gov). Dietary counselling resulted in a higher intake of beta-carotene and vitamin E compared to controls. Further, in women lower serum beta-carotene and higher colostrum vitamin A concentrations were found in the intervention group compared to controls. Dietary counselling during pregnancy improves women's vitamin intakes but does not provide unambiguous effects on vitamin status of women or children.

Keywords::

• dietary counselling
• pregnancy
• antioxidant
• vitamin

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Ms Ulla-Maija Eriksson for clinical work with the study subjects, M.Sc Mirva Korpela and Ms Satu Leinonen for technical work and Robert MacGilleon, M.A., for the English language review of the manuscript.

Declaration of interest : This study was supported by grants from the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, the Sigrid Juselius Foundation, the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation (personal SV) and the Juho Vainio Foundation (personal SV). Food products were provided by Raisio plc (Raisio, Finland). The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Contributions The authors' responsibilities were as follows: Kirsi Laitinen and Erika Isolauri made the study concept and design, Sanna Vähämiko and Kirsi Laitinen did the collection of the data, Tuija Poussa conducted statistical analysis and all authors participated in preparation of the manuscript.