National Safe Motherhood Day celebrated at Neeta Dewan Diet Guide Center

Ludhiana, April 11, 2016: Neeta Dewan Diet Guide Center, Dewan Hospital, Ludhiana celebrated “National Safe Motherhood Day” today by organizing a seminar on this important day. Neeta Dewan, BSc, MSc, DNHE diet consultant, delivered the lecture on “Maternal Nutrition”.
Dr Narotam Dewan, Laparoscopic surgeon and Director of the hospital welcome the participants and said that this is the first of the public welfare seminar held at Dewan Hospital this year. He said that a special seminar room and facilities have been created at Dewan Hospital which will be regularly used to dispense health education and interact with the doctors, nursing staff and general public.
Mrs.Neeta Dewan said, ladies often lack adequate information to meet increased nutrient requirements through diet for the challenging periods of pregnancy and lactation. There is need for behavioral changes and to acquire other healthy dietary practices tailored to the individual needs of each women. Even during their adolescence they need to be aware of it as this is the time when reproductive and other lifestyle behaviors set the stage for later life. Inadequate diet during the adolescent years leads to anemia or stunting, which in turn contributes to complications in childbirth and underweight babies.
Mrs Neeta Dewan said that nutrient needs always increase during pregnancy and lactation. Proper increase in nutrition protects the maternal health and results in better birth outcome and health of the newborn. When energy and other nutrient intake does not increase, the body’s own reserves are used, leaving a pregnant woman weakened. Energy needs increase in the second and particularly the third trimester of pregnancy. Inadequate weight gain during pregnancy often results in low birth weight, which in-creases an infant’s risk of dying. Pregnant women also require more protein, iron, iodine, vitamin A, folate, and other nutrients. Deficiencies of certain nutrients are associated with maternal complications and death, fetal and newborn death, birth defects, and decreased physical and mental potentials of the child.
Mrs Dewan said that energy requirements increase by an estimated 300 kcal/day during pregnancy and 500 kcal/day during lactation. On an average the pregnant women gains about 10 kg in pregnancy. Either low or excessive weight gain are harmful to the pregnant women as well as the developing foetus (baby). A pregnant women need to consume about 350 extra calories per day, which translates to one additional meal.
Dr Nakul Avasthy, MD, Gynaecology spoke that marriage should not take place before 18yrs, should not have pregnancy before 20yrs and should have gap of minimum 3 yrs between two pregnancies. He said that all deliveries must be conducted at hospitals and not at homes as this will give the advantage of specialized care and modern technology to the mother and the newborn.
It is estimated that for every 100,000 live births in India, up to 407 mothers, die. Infant mortality in India is 63 deaths per 1,000 live births with around 47 per cent of infant deaths occurring in the first week of life. So millions of lives of mothers and children can be easily saved with cost-effective, proven dietary solutions once the ladies are made aware. The future of our nation depends on the physical and mental strength of our new generations which depends upon proper nutrition of our female population.