Food and macronutrient intake of economically disadvantaged pregnant womenin Colombia

The objective of this article is to assess changes in diet composition, def ined in terms of macronutrient intake and types of foods consumed, in pregn ancy in poor urban women in Colombia. The subjects were 20 pregnant and 20 matched nonpregnant, nonlactating (NPNL) women 19 to 35 years of age. The p regnant women were studied in three measurement rounds at 14.0 +/- 3.6, 27 +/- 2.2, and 35 +/- 1.7 weeks gestation, and the NPNL women in three measur ement rounds approximately 3 months apart. Dietary intake was obtained from estimated food records and macronutrient composition from published source s. Types of foods consumed were aggregated into 16 groups: alcohol; breads; candy; coffee, chocolate; juices; fruit; legumes; meat, fish, offal; dairy ; vegetable dishes; other; rice, pasta; tubers, plantains; salads; soft dri nks; and soups. Macronutrient intakes showed nonsignificant increases in pr egnancy. There were no significant differences between pregnant and NPNL wo men, except for carbohydrate intake in late pregnancy (P = 0.03). Carbohydr ate, fat, and protein provided 74%, 17%, and 12% of dietary energy, respect ively, in pregnant women at baseline, and did not change significantly. Exc ept for a decrease in fruits, the types of foods consumed did not change si gnificantly in pregnancy. There were no between-group differences in types of foods consumed except for the greater number of fruits consumed by pregn ant women at baseline (P = 0.004). We conclude that in this population ther e were no changes in diet composition in pregnancy, except for an increase in fruit consumption in Round 1. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.