MACRONUTRIENTS IN PRECONCEPTION AND PERINATAL HEALTH

Food, food products and food metabolism are essential to the health of the developing foetus and the newborn. A macronutrient, as its name suggests, is a nutrient that is required in relatively large amounts for normal growth and development. The macronutrients, protein, fat and carbohydrate, represent the chemical compounds that not only are essential to life and homeostasis but, importantly, provide the vast majority of bulk energy – energy that necessarily must be stored, utilised and synthesised through complex processes of metabolism. A critical understanding of the properties of macronutrients is crucial to determining the role of these chemical compounds to development and growth, both in utero and following birth. The focus of this chapter is to describe the fundamental features of macronutrients and then to highlight their role in the metabolic process for women during the childbearing continuum.