Nutritional assessment and support during pregnancy.

Proper nutrition during pregnancy is critically important to mother and fetus. For most healthy women, the only nutritional intervention required may be adequate iron and folate intake; however, for others, who begin pregnancy in a malnourished state or whose nutritional intake deteriorates during pregnancy, invasive nutritional support, including tube feeding or parenteral nutrition, may be indicated. To guide nutritional therapy and to avoid its potential complications, it is necessary to evaluate the patient's nutritional state. Such evaluation must focus not only on body composition and substrate reserves but also on the patient's changing nutrient requirements and any impediments to the patient's capacity to ingest and assimilate food.