Crawford M A, Doyle W, Drury P
Trop Geogr Med. 1985 Sep;37(3):S5-16.
Conception does not take place unless there is a certain guaranteed energy reserve in the mother as fat stores. In the well nourished pregnant mother, energy reserves are built up in advance of the fetal growth thurst and part of these are transferred to the fetus to buffer the risks associated with birth and the perinatal period. A significant proportion of the maternal energy reserves act as a guarantee for lactation which imposes the highest dietary energy demand of the life cycle. Again, in the well nourished mother there will be a transfer of energy to the infant which will again buffer the weaning period when the infant changes from the energy dense milk to foods with low energy densities. Malnutrition and undernutrition is not simply the result of poor infant feeding or the events that occur at the time. It is more likely that the case of mortality and morbidity from malnutrition includes a failure during the reproductive process to provide the necessary reserves for fetal energy stores and for the perinatal and weaning periods. That is infant malnutrition stems from the relationship between maternal and infant nutrition. This analysis leads to the proposal that preventive measures need to include maternal nutrition and to increase the level of fat consumption. In developing countries the energy density of the carbohydrate rich diets may be too low to meet the energy demands for early growth and development. This problem will not be solved by simply supplying more of the same kind of food but may require an increase in the energy density of the food. One way by which this can be done is by increasing the fat intake which dramatically increases the energy intake without expanding the volume of food eaten.
除非母亲体内有一定的脂肪储备作为保证能量储备，否则受孕不会发生。在营养良好的孕妇中，能量储备在胎儿生长加速之前就已建立，其中一部分会转移给胎儿，以缓冲与出生及围产期相关的风险。母亲能量储备的很大一部分用于保证哺乳期，哺乳期对饮食能量的需求是生命周期中最高的。同样，在营养良好的母亲中，能量会转移给婴儿，这也会缓冲婴儿从能量密集的乳汁过渡到低能量密度食物的断奶期。营养不良和营养不足不仅仅是婴儿喂养不当或当时发生的事件导致的结果。营养不良导致的死亡和发病情况更可能是由于生殖过程中未能为胎儿能量储备以及围产期和断奶期提供必要的储备。也就是说，婴儿营养不良源于母婴营养之间的关系。这一分析表明，预防措施需要包括母亲的营养，并提高脂肪摄入量。在发展中国家，富含碳水化合物的饮食能量密度可能过低，无法满足早期生长发育的能量需求。仅仅提供更多同类型食物并不能解决这个问题，可能需要提高食物的能量密度。实现这一点的一种方法是增加脂肪摄入量，这会显著增加能量摄入，而不会增加食物的食用量。
