Intrauterine growth retardation and prenatal nutrition. II. Personal cases

: We have carried out an enquiry into feeding in mothers in whom failure of intra-uterine growth of the fetus has been suspected around the thirtieth week of amenorrhoea according to clinical criteria (23 cases with a mean birth weight of 2564 g). We used a special questionnaire in the third trimester of pregnancy. The special feature of these failures of intra-uterine growth were that they did not appear to have any known cause. The calory intake of the mother was compared at the same time with a control group (39 cases where the mean birth weight was 3333 g). A significant difference was found in the calory intake (2241 Kcal as against 2553 Kcal) and this was especially connected with a low carbohydrate intake. The consequences of this deficiency in maternal carbohydrates on the birth weights of the newborn is discussed taking into account other factors that could interfere with fetal growth.