Subcutaneous fat accumulation during pregnancy in a malnourished population

Abstract

I . Total skinfold thicknesses (sum of seven sites) were measured in fifty-seven pregnant women with low energy and protein intake, at weeks 24,30 and 35 of gestation.2 . Women were classified in two groups (overweight and low weight), according to their weight-forheight at week 24 of gestation.3. Half of the women did not increase, or even reduced the amount of subcutaneous fat during the observation period. The lowest mean value of total skinfold thickness was found in the low-weight women who showed a reduction of the subcutaneous fat.4. This finding shows that a significant proportion of malnourished women do not follow the average pattern of subcutaneous fat accumulation seen in healthy pregnant women without food intake restriction, during the second half of pregnancy.It has been reported that the average healthy pregnant woman, without food intake restriction, deposits a fair amount of subcutaneous fat between weeks 10 and 30 of gestation and this deposition, which is greater in primiparae and in women with low initial weight, slows down after this time (Taggart, Holliday, Billewicz, Hytten 8t Thomson, 1967). However, it is not known if pregnant women from populations with a high prevalence of energy-protein malnutrition and restricted food intake show the same pattern.The present work aims to describe the magnitude and variability of the subcutaneous fat deposition during the second half of pregnacy in such a group of women of rural and urban origin.

Analysis and Reliability of Anthropometric Measurements during Pregnancy: A Prospective Cohort Study in 208 Pregnant Women

“…Calipers are used to measure the thickness of the skin and fat mass at a various points around the body. Following this approach, investigators have used either individual SFTs (the 8 SFT recommended by ISAK) and a sum of several different skinfolds, trying to evaluate different anatomical places (total body fat, trunk, arms, legs, and appendicular zone) joining the different individual SFTs [10][11][12][13]. Thus, this method is useful to describe normal body fat changes throughout gestation, to identify women with unusually small or large changes in body fat during pregnancy, and to estimate initial body fat content [8].…”