Undernourished women who take a vitamin and mineral supplement
while pregnant may be less likely than women taking only iron
and folic acid supplements to have babies weighing less than
2,500 grams, and their newborns may be less likely to have
morbidity in the first seven days of life, according to a report
in the January issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent
Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Low birth weight,
or a weight of less than 2,500 grams, is a major predictor of
death in infancy, according to background information in the
article. It also increases the risk that the child will grow up
to develop coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke or
high blood pressure. In countries low on resources, a mother's
nutrition before and during pregnancy are known to affect the
birth weight of her baby. Low-income women are often deficient
in a number of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), including
vitamins C and E, vitamin B complex and folate. Piyush Gupta,
M.D., M.A.M.S., University