Booklet for New Mums Highlights Critical Window of Influence

24th July 2018

Booklet for New Mums Highlights Critical Window of Influence on Babies’ Lifelong Health

A booklet being distributed to new mums across New Zealand and Australia highlights the importance of healthier nutrition and lifestyle choices during the first thousand days in helping lay the foundation for lifelong health.

Distributed to new mums through the Bounty Bag network, the booklet First 1,000 Days, Nutrition Matters for Lifelong Health, is published by the Early Life Coalition, part of the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand (PSANZ): An affiliation of professional, academic, advocacy, corporate and healthcare groups from New Zealand and Australia set up to help new and expectant parents, as well as health care professionals, make sense of the plethora of often conflicting advice and enable better nutrition and lifestyle choices in the vital first 1,000 Days before, during and after pregnancy

According ELN Coalition member and one of the authors of the booklet, Associate Professor Clare Wall of Auckland University: ‘Much of what we say to expectant parents is focused on what not to do rather than what to do while pregnant. We’re trying to focus on the positive steps that can be taken.

‘Of all the environmental aspects of future health, nutrition is the number one thing that can be influenced. Evidence continues to show that good nutrition not only helps maximise health, growth and development in early life, it also reduces risk factors for some diseases in later life, such as heart disease and cancer.

‘We know that during pregnancy and throughout infancy, there are critical times when a fetus and baby are particularly susceptible to the influence of nutrition and lifestyle.

`Making Healthier nutrition and lifestyle choices in these first 1,000 days before, during and after pregnancy will significantly reduce the risk of Australian & New Zealand children suffering from allergy, obesity, type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in later life.

‘It is the Coalition’s aim to promote actions that can be taken during this critical window of opportunity. While the Coalition would like to facilitate behaviour change in some areas, our aim is to reinforce the positive steps parents can take to enhance the future health of generations to come.’

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