| Popis: |
Although experimental evidence derived from laboratory animals clearly demonstrates a relationship between maternal nutrition and reproductive performance, objective proof of a similar relationship during the gestation of human mothers is lacking. Indeed, reports attempting to relate maternal and fetal complications of human pregnancy to specific aspects of poor nutrition have been contradictory and largely inconclusive. Within recent years several independently sponsored, intensive studies have been initiated in efforts to determine the role of nutrition in normal and complicated pregnancies through the application of more exact techniques. 1–12 Our investigation, 13, 14 begun in 1947, yielded data based upon clinical observations, medical histories, food intakes, and seriatim microchemical determinations of hemoglobin, total serum protein, vitamin C, vitamin A, carotenoids, and alkaline phosphatase. This communication presents data concerning pregnancies complicated by pre-eclampsia and eclampsia in comparison with published data for subjects whose gestations were judged to have followed essentially normal courses. 14 |
