Influence of Environmental Factors on Fœtal Growth in Man

Nível sócio-econômico como uma variável geradora de erro em estudos de etnia

“…As diferenças raciais para estas variáveis podem indicar a existência de diferenças genéticas possíveis de serem avaliadas. Assim sendo, são conhecidas as relações existentes entre peso ao nascer e fatores ambientais e genéticos, tanto maternos quanto fetais 1,4,5,6 . Também são descritas diferenças raciais no peso ao nascer, sugerindo a ação dos fatores genéticos anteriormente citada 3 .…”

Relation of Poverty and Race to Birth Weight and Organ and Cell Structure in the Newborn

“…It has been postulated that undernutrition exerts its main influence in late gestation and that the increasing birth weights are explained by dietary improvements during pregnancy [11]. Unfortunately, the Japanese study did not include good dietary data [11]. Data in the current study indicate that maternal nutrition might also affect midgestational fetal growth (Table II).…”

“…Although lay opinion easily relates maternal diet to fetal nutrition, scientific data are surprisingly sparse for human beings. There was a decline of birth weights during World War II of about 200 g in both Japan and Holland during periods of widespread hunger [11,33]. The decline was about 500 g during the intense hunger of the siege of Leningrad [2].…”

“…Unfortunately, accurate gestational ages are not available for these studies so that it is not possible to analyze the individual roles of prematurity and retarded prenatal growth in the genesis of the reduced birth weights. Since World War II there has been an increase in birth weights in Japan, caused entirely by an increased rate of third trimester fetal growth [11]. It has been postulated that undernutrition exerts its main influence in late gestation and that the increasing birth weights are explained by dietary improvements during pregnancy [11].…”

“…Since World War II there has been an increase in birth weights in Japan, caused entirely by an increased rate of third trimester fetal growth [11]. It has been postulated that undernutrition exerts its main influence in late gestation and that the increasing birth weights are explained by dietary improvements during pregnancy [11]. Unfortunately, the Japanese study did not include good dietary data [11].…”