Mineral requirements of the mother and conceptus

Abstract

During development, the fetus is entirely dependent on the mother for the supply of minerals. Although the dietary level required is relatively small, they are essential because they play central roles in all stages of growth and development. Minerals are both central components of catalytic sites and stabilizing factors in many enzymes and transcription factors. Therefore, they play a role in almost every cellular function, from protein translation to intracellular signalling. Clearly, any limitation in the supply will have profound effects, both short- and long-term, for the mother, fetus, and newborn. For the fetus, these damaging effects can become apparent before, or even in the absence of, any clinical signs of deficiency in the mother. The range and extent of the detrimental effects seen in the developing fetus are dependent on the severity of the deficiency, whether it occurs only for a single mineral, and the gestational age at which the deficiency occurs. Mineral supplementation during pregnancy is commonplace, but supplementation late in gestation or in postnatal life may not overcome the damage caused by the earlier restriction. Because of the difficulties, both ethical and practical, of studying the effect of maternal mineral status in humans, our current level of understanding has been derived mainly from observational and intervention studies in which maternal intakes, low or high, are associated with adverse or favorable pregnancy outcomes and from extrapolation from animal studies.