Dietary supplements in Gambian mothers lead to fewer low birthweight babies

Over 25 million babies a year are born with low birth weight (<2500 g) and at increased risk of neonatal death. Most of these births occur in developing countries, and the greatest cause—maternal undernutrition—is theoretically amenable to intervention. Maternal feeding programmes, however, remain controversial because of a lack of well designed trials. Ceesay et al (p 786) describe a five year randomised controlled trial of dietary supplementation during pregnancy in over 2000 women from 28 Gambian villages. Groundnut biscuits were distributed by traditional birth attendants through the primary healthcare system. Intervention significantly increased the average birth weight, reduced the prevalence of low birth weight by 40%, and reduced the prevalence of stillbirths and early neonatal deaths by about 50%.


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