Maternal protein nutrition and foetal outcome in different ethnic groups

Abstract

Maternal nutrition is a subject of immense interest. Studies had revealed that malnourishment increased the risk of preterm birth and is associated with increased risk of a low-birth weight baby. However there are only a few reports on maternal protein nutritional status and pregnancy outcome. A prospective study was undertaken to measure the biochemical markers of serum protein taken from 306 pregnant patients from different ethnic groups in Liverpool Hospital, Sydney. The biochemical markers were measured. These are retinol binding globulin, pre-albumin, transferrin, creatinine, aspartate aminotransaminase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), urea and albumin. This study sets out to study the protein nutritional status of the mother as well as to reveal whether there is difference in nutritional status in different ethnic groups of Australian during pregnancy and its effect on pregnancy outcome.