Multiple micronutrient supplementation and dietary energy intake in pregnant women

Objective. To compare dietary intake of women supplementedwith multiple micronutrients (MM) or iron onlyduring pregnancy. Materials and Methods. Design: Randomized,double-blind, controlled community-based trial. Setting:One semi-urban community in Central Mexico. Subjects:Pregnant women identified before week 13 of pregnancy,willing to provide informed consent. Interventions: Womenwere randomly assigned to receive daily supplementation withMM or iron only from recruitment until delivery. Supplementswere delivered to the participants’ home and complianceobserved daily. Dietary intake was assessed by repeat 24-hrrecall. Data were analyzed using non-parametric tests andmultiple regression analysis to determine the impact of MMsupplementation on dietary intake of energy and select micronutrients.Results. During the third trimester, women inthe MM group consumed more energy and iron from dietarysources than women in the iron only group. After adjustmentfor differences between the groups at baseline, women in theMM group consumed 111.3 kcal/day more (p<0.05) energy.The difference in iron intake was not significant after adjustingfor the increase in energy intake. Conclusions. Womenconsuming MM supplements during pregnancy increasedenergy intake from dietary sources without a concurrent increasein micronutrient density. Future studies should include measures of appetite and physical activity during pregnancyto determine the implications of additional energy intake forweight gain and retention.