Abstract
Studies have described maternal adaptation to support fetal development at various levels of nutritional status. However the usual conservation and control of energy by the pregnant mother is compromised during adolescent pregnancy when both the mother and the fetus are growing. Maternal growth may have biological consequences similar to starvation with a negative effect upon fetal growth. Research is needed to describe the metabolic response to gestation during various phases of adolescent physical development and how to best nourish both the adolescent mother and her fetus. Epidemiological findings indicate that the goal for birth weight leading to optimal infant survival is the same whether mothers are adolescent or adult. However new results show that young pregnant females gained more weight than older adolescents or adults to produce the same-weight infants. Major points raised at the final session of the Adolescent Nutritional Disorders: Prevention and Treatment conference held December 1995 under the auspices of the New York Academy of Science are summarized. Participants focused upon the biological interaction of the reproductive process with pubertal development complicated by risky patterns of eating developing overweight or idealizing thinness.
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