I was discussing in my previous articles the importance of nutritious food to pregnant mothers and how deficiencies can cause gestation problems like miscarriages, preterm deliveries, fetal defects, and complications as well as changes in facial and bone structures (narrowing of forehead, jaw, and cheek and more) in the unborn.

Dr. Catherine Shanahan, who went through many studies and has done research herself, recommended in her book, “Deep Nutrition” what to do, eat, drink, not to drink, habits to quit, activities to practice and much more in order to ensure the safety of mother’s health and the outcome of baby’s normal growth and overall health. That is why it is paramount to boost health conditions before conception, time of conception, during pregnancy, and after delivery.

However, there are other factors that can contribute to the alterations in bone structure, skull shape, and features, too, such as eyes, noses, lips, eyebrows, ears, and more, which will be discussed later. Lack of breastfeeding or deficiencies in the mother can also affect the IQ, increase the risk of learning disabilities, and interfere with certain brain and emotional developments of the child.

Care for mother and fetus does not begin with the pregnancy, as everyone believes. It should start long before conception time and it should include the father-to-be who has significant contributions to the outcome of this equation, which is a healthy baby. It takes two to tango! The optimal health of the parents-to-be is crucial during the planting of the seed, which is expected to become a healthy, strong, intelligent, perfectly formed, and beautiful child, free of disease, defects, learning disorders, physiological deficiencies, and mental, physical, and learning disabilities. How is that possible?

Both parties should be equipped with the sturdiest health possible and spared mental, emotional, and physical stress long before the conception period. Both should eat nutritious wholesome food and take supplements long before conception time to build robust health, produce healthy sperms and ova to make conception and pregnancy successful, and have a strong healthy offspring. Before conception, the burden falls on both parents-to-be, but once conception takes place, the major load becomes the mother’s for the next nine months or more. The first trimester is the most critical period in the pregnancy due to the importance of the initial formation of the embryo.

Once the pregnancy test comes out positive, the obstetrician should prescribe to the mother prenatal vitamins. Unfortunately, this is not early enough. Both parents should have started such comprehensive supplements and taken care of their health and wellbeing long before conception time to prepare their bodies for this phenomenal event and help a successful procreation. Because physiological deficiencies on both sides can impact the genes, creation, and development of the tiny embryo, such delayed care may result in defects, abnormalities, and malformation of the body, spine, and brain of the fetus.

After conception, the healthy outcome of the child depends on mother’s strong constitution and immunity. These come with the help of a balanced and nutritious diet, prenatal supplements, sufficient water intake, moderate activity, restful sleep, and receiving loving care and support from those around her.

Why are supplements necessary? Let me first give you an example. A paper, published in The Lancet in 1991, linked folic acid deficiency to fetal neural tube defects, a spinal cord malformation, called spina bifida. Healthy wholesome nutrition and supplements are important factors to prevent such unfortunate defects in foetuses and weakness in mothers.

Another aspect to be addressed long before conception is testing the couple’s blood for compatibility before marriage. When two people decide to get married, they should find out if they are physiologically and genetically compatible to get married and produce healthy children. They should consider many aspects, which include health lineage, genes, and diseases in each other’s family. If thalassemia or haemophilia is present in both parties, they should expect that the result might be intensified and devastating in one or more of the children, ending in major defects and suffering for parents and affected children. Such family genes cause tormenting outcomes due to both sides sharing the same genetic pool like haemophilia, thalassemia, cancer (BRCA1 or others), deafness, congenital heart diseases, physical deformities, and mental disabilities.

A defective gene may not appear in any of the parents, because it could be a recessive gene — coming from an unknown ancestor. The odds of defective genes become more apparent in the case of repeated marriages from the same family, as it is common in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East where family marriages are common practice. In consequence, the blood pool does not change much and damaged genes become intensified and are passed on to future generations, thus manifesting themselves in vicious ways.

The Ministry of Health is doing well by making pre-marriage blood tests mandatory for young couples intending to get married and start a family. Repeated close family marriages could bring about sad and heart-breaking outcomes in the offspring. The same gene pool could contribute to disorders in the descendants like congenital heart diseases, diabetes, haemophilia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), muscle dystrophy, polycystic kidneys, thalassemia, deafness, mental disorders and more, which are not rare in multiple intermarriages.

Over 1420 years ago, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him (PBUH), advised his people to be selective with their partners and their genes before marriage, “genes are concealers” of diseases and traits that could be passed on to the offspring.

Another aspect worthwhile mentioning is that in the recent years most people have become severely malnourished despite obesity with modern diets, especially Americans and Saudis with the invasion of fast and processed foods, fries in trans fats, doughnuts, highly- sweetened soda, soft drinks, ice-cream, shakes, and syrupy desserts. Meals are currently low in vegetables and fruits and if any are included they are low in nutrients, due to mineral depleted soils. Meat and chicken are given with hormones, antibiotics, arsenics, or other toxins. Fish is contaminated with mercury and other toxins. If mother is fed nutrient-empty and contaminated food, what do you expect to happen to the fetus?

When the placenta finds little or insufficient nutrients in the bloodstream, it will turn to her bones, brain, skin, muscles, glands, systems, and organs to draw minerals, vitamins, essential fatty acids (omega-3 from her brain), and other nutrients to ensure the physical and mental development of the fetus.

On the other hand, when mother’s nutrition is adequate and healthy and her immune system is robust, the coming baby will benefit from the nutrients in her bloodstream, thus developing symmetrical and distinct beautiful features, high cheekbones, broad brows, and strong bone and skeletal structure. This is the healthy impact of a nutritious diet of the mother, which would eventually make her produce highly nutritive and wholesome breast milk that will help continue the process of normal growth in the newborn after birth and later.

Next week, I will elaborate on how to cook meat and what foods are best to build the body, brain, and health of mother and fetus as suggested in Shanahan’s book. I will also discuss other aspects of childbearing and what happens to the mother when she is nutrient deficient.

References:

• Dr. Catherine Shanahan and Luke Shanahan, MD, Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food

• http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002937803004952, Probiotics and preterm babies

• http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/8337048/Fight-to-prevent-allergie... Fight to prevent allergies in the womb

• http://www.news-medical.net/news/2008/03/21/36528.aspx Folic acid improves a man’s chance of becoming a father

N.B.:

Individuals with medical conditions or on medication should consult their physicians when they decide to introduce anything new in their diet even if it is natural.

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