Adverse birth outcomes, particularly small babies, are a major public health problem in India. A majority of these babies are intrauterine growth retarded (IUGR). IUGR is associated with high morbidity, poor growth, impaired mental development in childhood and the risk of chronic adult disease. Our group runs a large prospective mother-infant cohort to determine the role of maternal nutritional and lifestyle factors during pregnancy in the etiology of IUGR. Special emphasis is on the effects of maternal micronutrient deficiencies, particularly vitamin B2, B6, B12, folic acid, poor essential fatty acid status, and maternal body composition on birth weight. Intervention trials aimed at increasing birth size are planned

The goals of the present project include experiments to determine how under-nutrition affects the ability of the pregnant woman to produce adequate amounts of glucose and amino acids. These help in the growth and development of the fetus and this may be a contributing factor in the premature delivery, undergrowth for gestational age, low and very low birth-weights of infants born to underweight women. Such information is especially important at this time because of a growing body of evidence from retrospective studies showing that increased risk for chronic metabolic and cardiovascular disease in adulthood is inversely related to birth-weight. This work is being done in collaboration with the Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, USA.