‘In the 1980’s of the 89,000 pregnancies in Britain, 27,000 ended in miscarriage, in the 1990’s roughly one in seven pregnancies went wrong but the good news is that now due to the work or scientists like professor Derek Bryce-Smith and Professor Michael Crawford and others we now know that the vast majority of problems in pregnancy are due to faulty nutrition.  Optimum nutrition means much more that just eating what is considered to be a well balanced diet. Minerals like zinc and essential fatty acids like evening primrose oil and fish oil are two or the widely deficient nutrients associated with low birth weight babies’    Patrick Holford   
Founder of the Institute for Optimum Nutrition.

A young farmer and his wife were having problems with conception.  They visited their doctor to ask what tests could be done to see if either of them had any nutritional deficiencies.   The Doctor was less that enthusiastic about it and he assured them that a good diet was all that was required.  The farmer was shocked ‘How can that be when I know that I have even have to give my cows extra minerals to get the best calves’

The Foresight Trust was set up to help infertile couples and they maintain that both parents need a nutrition programme for three months before pregnancy.  Each couple are are seen by the team of doctors and are given specific tests to identify any problems or deficiencies and the personalised programme is begun.  To date the results are impressive.    

The British Association for Nutrition Therapy (BANT) has a directory of practitioners (BANT.org.co.uk) throughout the country who can give individual nutritional advice to couples who want it.  However a very good place to start improving your nutrition is to cut out some anti-nutrients.   Most pregnant women know that smoking is harmful in pregnancy.  The toxin cadmium in cigarette smoke damages the baby and is directly related to low birth weight and the circumference of the babies head. However the most common poison affecting the unborn child is alcohol which is associated with the disfiguring facial deformities of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome. Alcohol also affects behaviour and brain function this was shown by a study at Queens University in Ontario where they found verbal skills and understanding were worse in babies affected by alcohol in the womb.  Experts now consider that there is no safe alcohol limit for pregnancy and to ensure optimum nutrition for the developing embryo, and as alcohol also damages sperm experts advise it should be avoided by both partners from the very start of conception.

Heather Lyons Dip ION