American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 56, 874-880, Copyright © 1992 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Energy intake, energy expenditure, and body composition of poor rural Philippine women throughout the first 6 mo of lactation

MA Guillermo-Tuazon, CV Barba, JM van Raaij and JG Hautvast
Institute of Human Nutrition and Food, College of Human Ecology, University of the Philippines, Los Banos.

Between 6 and 30 wk postpartum, body weight and body-fat mass of 40 healthy, rural, lactating Filipino women decreased by 1.5 (P < 0.05) and 0.7 kg (P < 0.05), respectively. Energy intake decreased slightly (NS) from 8.84 +/- 2.05 MJ/d (2113 +/- 489 kcal/d; mean +/- SD) at 6 wk to 8.67 +/- 2.37 MJ/d (2073 +/- 566 kcal/d) at 30 wk. Basal metabolic rate (BMR) remained unchanged throughout lactation, and physical- activity level increased significantly (P < 0.05) from 1.61 +/- 0.17 x BMR at 6 wk to 1.97 +/- 0.18 x BMR at 30 wk. Energy intakes at 6 and 30 wk of lactation were 1.02 and 0.77 MJ/d (244 and 185 kcal/d) higher (P < 0.05), respectively, than in early pregnancy. At ages 1-6 mo, mean weights and lengths of mainly breast-fed infants had Z scores between 0 and -1. By using the growth patterns of the breast-fed infants as proxy indicators for adequacy of lactational performance, this study suggests that present recommended energy intakes for lactation are too high for healthy Filipino women who show adequate lactational performance.

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