Diet and nutrition of both parents plays a key role in health of offspring before conception
UCL and the University of Southampton have launched a new Lancet series on preconception health, with an associated policy briefing
17 April 2018
A new series of papers in The Lancet published by a research team from UCL and the University of Southampton makes the case for both men and women to improve their diet and health before trying for a baby.
Preconception Health is a series of three papers examining the effects of smoking, high alcohol & caffeine intake, diet, obesity & malnutrition on conception and the future health of a baby. The series highlights the importance and summarises the evidence of preconception health for future health and suggests context-specific interventions. It also calls for a social movement to achieve political engagement for health in this particular phase in life.
The social and political side of this work is summarised in a new policy briefing Preconception Health: Challenges and Opportunities
The briefing contains four key recommendations:
- People contemplating pregnancy should have an opportunity to improve their health before conception.
- Motivations to engage with pre-conception health differ according to age and phase of life; understanding and harnessing these motivations is key to successful intervention.
- Interventions need to be context specific and to make best use of existing platforms for delivery.
- Big food and big food retailers should be mobilised as part of the solution and in support of a social movement for better pre-conception health and nutrition.