A mother’s nutrition and education level determines a child’s well being

A study carried out in 2014 involving close to 60,000 subjects from eight different countries determined that the size of a baby at birth is universally determined primarily by the health of the mother during pregnancy.

Dubbed Intergrowth-21st, the study also included the level of education of the mother and her nutrition as additional factors that influence the baby’s weight and related characteristics at the time of delivery. The research was done in prime towns in Kenya, Brazil, China, India, Italy, Oman, the UK and the US. 

The conclusions, as documented by the team of researchers led by their peers Oxford University, seemed to demystify long held suspicions that the weight of a baby is dependent on race or ethnicity. Further, the study revealed that babies born to healthy mothers worldwide grow with a great deal of similarity in the womb and after birth.

“The normal birth weight of a new born should be between 2.5 and 4kg,” stated Dr John Ong’ech, an obstetrician at Kenyatta National Hospital. “Anything above 4kg is termed foetal macrosomia. Even so, weights of between 4-5kg are fairly acceptable. Anything below 2.5kg is very low. The main determinant of birth weight is genetics, as dictated by parental genes.”

Ong’ech agreed that a mother’s nutrition as well as her health during pregnancy contribute a great deal to the baby’s general health. The study brought together a team of researchers from around the world, including Kenya’s Dr Maria Carvalho from Aga Khan University’s Faculty of Health Sciences in Nairobi and Zulfiqar Bhutta from the Centre for Excellence in Women and Child Health in Karachi and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Prof Bhutta also served as the chair of the steering committee of the research team. Funded by the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation and published in The Lancet, the study demonstrates that it is important to improve women’s education, health and nutritional status as this has a significant bearing on the healthy growth of the baby in the womb and on future good health.

“An educated woman would understand how she is supposed to carry herself for the health of the baby and her own. Her lifestyle choices are likely to be well informed and thus the results of the pregnancy,” said Ong’ech who further argued that metabolic conditions such as diabetes lead to birth of big babies.

Several Kenyan mothers contributed to the Kenyan phase of the study, which was carried out by the Aga Khan University Hospital, with additional data from the MP Shah and Avenue hospitals in Nairobi. The heaviest baby to have been born alive in Kenya is Mervin Mango’s son, Robin van Persie Mango, born early in the year 2014 and weighed 7kg.

“This was a miracle. I have practiced medicine for many years but I had never seen anything like that. The new-born was, however, in good health,” said Dr Ben Oriko, the chief executive of Nangina Mission Hospital in Bungoma where Robin was born through C-section.