Dietary assessment of a pregnant Spanish women group

Dietary habits were studied in 135 pregnant Spanish women. Their consumption of cereals, sugars, oils, vegetables, legumes and alcoholic drinks was lower, that of meat and eggs similar and that of fruit, milk and fish higher than the Spanish national average. The percentages for intakes lower than 100% of the recommended allowances, taking into account the dietary intake were 12, 23, 88, 8, 12, 34, 94, 2, 71, 98, 97 and 93% for thiamin, riboflavin, folates, vitamin B12, C, A, D, iodine, calcium, zinc magnesium and iron, respectively. If the supplements prescribed halfway through the pregnancy are added to the dietary provisions, the percentages for consumption below 100% of recommendation were considerably reduced. Furthermore, since the supplements prescribed did not include zinc or magnesium, there were 98% and 97% of pregnant women, respectively, with intakes below 100% of recommendations of these minerals. In the other cases the dietary intake plus the supplement are higher than the recommended amount. These imbalances may have harmful effects on the health of the women and their newborns and highlight the need for studying in depth the nutritional problems of pregnant women and for reconsidering the supplements that must be prescribed.