DIETARY ASSESSMENT OF A PREGNANT SPANISH WOMEN GROUP

Dietary habits were studied in 135 pregnant Spanish women. Their consu mption of cereals, sugars, oils, vegetables, legumes and alcoholic dri nks was lower, that of meat and eggs similar and that of fruit, milk a nd fish higher than the Spanish national average. The percentages for intakes lower than 100% of the recommended allowances, taking into acc ount the dietary intake were 12, 23, 88, 8, 12, 34, 94, 2, 71, 98, 97 and 93% for thiamin, riboflavin, folates, vitamin B-12, C, A, D, iodin e, calcium, zinc magnesium and iron, respectively. If the supplements prescribed halfway through the pregnancy are added to the dietary prov isions, the percentages for consumption below 100% of recommendation w ere considerably reduced. Furthermore, since the supplements prescribe d did not include zinc or magnesium, there were 98% and 97% of pregnan t women, respectively, with intakes below 100% of recommendations of t hese minerals. In the other cases the dietary intake plus the suppleme nt are higher than the recommended amount. These imbalances may have h armful effects on the health of the women and their newborns and highl ight the need for studying in depth the nutritional problems of pregna nt women and for reconsidering the supplements that must be prescribed .