The Relationship between Nutritional Supplementation during Pregnancy and Offspring Health
A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutrition and Public Health".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 August 2024 | Viewed by 2053
Special Issue Editors
Interests: pregnancy; iron; nutrition; epidemiology; maternal
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We are all aware that an adequate supply of micronutrients is crucial, especially during pregnancy, for optimizing maternal health and fetal development, ultimately impacting the long-term health of offspring. For this reason, essential nutrients such as iron, folic acid, vitamin B-12, calcium, choline, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, and other essential vitamins and minerals are commonly recommended during pregnancy to meet the increased nutritional demands, benefiting both mothers and their babies. In this context, exposure to maternal micronutrient insufficiency during in utero development may contribute to fetal programming, increasing the risk of neonatal complications such as fetal growth restriction, birth defects, preterm birth, and low birth weight. Moreover, it may lead to adverse long-term consequences for the infant, encompassing cognitive impairment, stunting, reduced immune function, childhood obesity, and other cardiometabolic disturbances. Accordingly, prenatal micronutrient supplementation is an emerging intervention that not only aims to provide the proper nutrition required during pregnancy but may mitigate adverse health outcomes in the child later in life, warranting further investigation. However, it is crucial to prescribe appropriate prenatal supplementation based on the mother's initial nutrient stores, avoiding prophylactic micronutrient supplementation, as excessive intake of certain nutrients (e.g., iron, which exhibits a U-shaped risk curve) may have adverse effects. Moreover, there are topics that are still open to much investigation and debate, such as the timing, duration, and optimal dosage required for supplementation, as well as the effects of single versus multiple micronutrient supplementation during pregnancy on the long-term health of offspring.
We are pleased to invite you and your colleagues to submit a feature paper (invited paper) for this Special Issue focusing on the relationship between nutritional supplementation during pregnancy and offspring health across the life course, including the fetal development period.
The specific objective of this Special Issue is to provide updated, evidence-based knowledge to further our understanding of this topic to refine guidelines for prenatal optimal micronutrient supplementation. We encourage authors to submit their original research, regardless of positive or negative results, as both are essential for advancing nutrition intervention development.
We welcome the submission of a range of study designs, including randomized and non-randomized controlled trials, observational studies, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. M. Victoria Arija Val
Dr. Andrés Díaz-López
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- pregnancy
- prevention
- prenatal supplementation
- maternal nutrition
- fetal development
- offspring health
- cognitive development
- metabolic health
