AS far as I know, in Scotland at any rate, the antenatal clinics do not usually have dietitians attached to them, and it might be asked what part a dietitian would usefully play in the antenatal service. So, in this talk, I should like to try and tell you the kind of work we are doing in Aberdeen, and to show how dietitians can become a very important part of the maternity services.During the past eighteen months we have been carrying out an investigation into the dietary habits of the expectant mother.The first step is surely to try and find out what expectant mothers do, in fact, eat, and whether the nutrient values of their diet can be related to any clinical findings. A great deal has been written about what women should eat during pregnancy and lactationthere are recommended standards of calorie intake, etc, and there is the fairly reasonable assumption that the protein, mineral and vitamin intake should reach a high level than that thought necessary for non-pregnant, moderately-active women. But what, in fact, do pregnant women eat? Is their health better if they take all their supplements and priorities than if they don't? Is the baby's health and vitality in any way dependent on what the mother has eaten during pregnancy?We must realize, of course, that diet is only one factor among many which will affect the outcome of pregnancy. Her health and the antenatal care she receives will be of equal or greater importance, and her whole social backgroundupbringing and environment will not only play a part in determining her behaviour, but will directly affect the type of diet she takes.Our aim has, therefore, been to try and assess the diets of as many different types of women as possible, from all kinds of homes, but all of whom are having their first pregnancy. It was thought that the degree of co-operation would be higher from priiniparae than from women with one or more of a family, but we hope to be able to collect information about the diets of the latter at some future date.The next step was to decide how best to assess the diets. There are various methods in usefrom routine diet histories and the twenty-four-hour questionnaire method of Wiehl, which has been largely used by Pyke, to a completely weighed record of all food consumed over a period of time. We were anxious to obtain a quantitative picture of the diets, and this meant that diet histories alone would not be much use; but we decided that we should try out more than one method before deciding finally on our routine procedure.Ideally, I suppose, a dietitian should live in the woman's house during the entire pregnancy, and measure exactly the quantities of food eaten by the patient for at least seven of her nine months. But I very much doubt whether any one would stand for thateven if she were a dietitian herself. And, although an accurate record of food intake over a long period of time is more likely to give reliable results than a record kept for a shorter period, it must be remembered that the longer the period, the more selected the patient w...