No. 5: Improving Nutrition and Reproductive Health: The Importance of Micronutrient Nutrition POLICY (January 2000)  Full Document (English)      Order for free      email to me  The improved nutritional status of women, particularly during their childbearing years, is an important element of reproductive health. Efforts to improve women's nutrition and health include increasing food intake at all stages of the life cycle, eliminating micronutrient deficiencies, preventing and treating parasitic infections, reducing women's workload, and reducing unwanted fertility. This paper outlines the critical role of maternal nutrition and, in particular, micronutrients to reproductive health. The micronutrient status of women in developing countries affects their health during pregnancy and lactation, the outcomes of their pregnancies, and the health of their infants. For women who are vitamin and nutrient deficient, improving micronutrient intake can be an important means of reducing maternal morbidity and mortality. Micronutrient malnutrition is primarily the result of inadequate dietary intake. Dietary surveys in developing countries have consistently shown that multiple micronutrient deficiencies, rather than single deficiencies, are common, and that low dietary intakes and poor bioavailability of micronutrients account for the high prevalence of these multiple deficiencies. Recent evidence concerning increased micronutrient supplementation suggests the following findings: • Enhancing vitamin A intake reduces maternal mortality. • Increasing calcium and magnesium intake can reduce the risk of death from eclampsia. • Ensuring adequate intake of iron, zinc, iodine, calcium, magnesium, and folic acid during pregnancy can improve pregnancy outcome. • Increasing the intake of folic acid before pregnancy can reduce birth defects. • Providing zinc, calcium, and magnesium supplements during pregnancy can improve birthweight and reduce prematurity, especially among high-risk women. • Improving the maternal intake of many nutrients directly enhances the quality of breast milk. In addition, micronutrients play an essential role in the function of the immune system, and deficiencies in them influence the rate, duration, and severity of infections. Infection rates during pregnancy or lactation, including reproductive tract infections, increase because of deficiencies in iron, vitamin A, and zinc. Also, low serum vitamin A levels in pregnant women have been associated with increased transmission of HIV to infants and with increased transition from HIV to AIDS and increased mortality from AIDS among infants. The consequences of malnutrition affect the ability of women to sustain work and care for their families. Solutions to prevent or eliminate micronutrient malnutrition include nutrient supplementation of women of childbearing age before and after pregnancy through repeated reproductive cycles. Combined supplements are usually more effective in improving micronutrient status than single supplements, since women are usually deficient in more than one micronutrient. In addition, universal or targeted food fortification, which has proved cost-effective, can be an important strategy in preventing micronutrient malnutrition.