Prenatal fortified food supplementation and nutritional status of mothers in rural Burkina Faso

Abstract

Nutritional status of pregnant women is important for the prognosis of the course and the outcomes of the pregnancy. This study assessed the effects of food maternal supplementation on maternal nutritional status of women at the end of pregnancy on a sample of 497 women out of the MISAME-2 cohort.

In the overall sample, the food supplement did not improve maternal nutritional status. Maternal net weight gain was 0.42 kg higher in the food supplement group (95 % CI : -0.21, 1.05, P= 0.191) and the body mass index (BMI) gain was equally higher 0.18 kg/m2• When only women chronically energy deficient (BMI<I 8.5 kg/m 2) were considered, the food supplement increased significantly maternal net weight gain (2.3 ± 3.6 kg vs. 0.8 ± 3.6 kg for the multiple micronutrients (MMN) ; P= 0.002) and BMI gain (1.1 ± 1.4 kg/m2 vs. 0.4 ± 1.4 kg/m2 p< 0.001). In addition, the effect was significantly greater for the subgroup of energy deficient women. The more weight gained during pregnancy the heavier the birth weight. This significance of this benefit and the determinants of the repartition of maternal total weight gain between mothers and fetuses need to be investigated in further studies.