(extract from the article "Nutrition in pregnancy, not only a weight problem" written by Professor E. Ferrazzi, Chairman of the Department of the Woman, Mother and Neonate Medical School Department of Clinical Sciences, Buzzi Children’s Hospital Milano.)

 

Not long ago, until the 50s of last century, the nutrition was regulated by local cultures spontaneously developed in previous centuries and millennia, and impact of climate on crops.

The advent of refrigeration, the availability of fertilizers, energy in agriculture etc. has led to major changes in the diet of men who live in Europe and North America (eg the availability of non-seasonal vegetables, meat throughout the year, the widespread intake of fresh milk and dairy products). Large agro-industrial concentrations have therafter introduced artificial flavors and induced needs (eg. Refined sugar, polyunsaturated fatty acids used as preservatives, animal fat) until the current globalized diet with food from all around the world which can be found in any supermarket.

The most immediate consequence of the loss of a local nutritional culture has to do primarily with the loss of aroma and taste, replaced by sweet or salty  strong flavors and fat. The second well-known effect of the  global competitive agro-industrial complex  are imbalances and excesses caused by nutritional marketing strategies aimed particularly at vulnerable groups of consumers, such as children and low incomes segment of population.

The less obvious, but probably more important for its impact on human health, is represented by the profound effects of nutritional components on the immune system, and subsequent chronic inflammatory processes[1]. In fact, the various components of a "globalized" unbalanced diet, and the added chemicals and pollutants that we assume, interfere dramatically with the genome of individuals and their inherited gut microbiome.

In a nutshell we can say that the genome is a kind of library of possible responses to the external environment and inside our body, ie the genome is much more than the sum of individual genes, such as an orchestra is more than the sum of individual instruments. Likewise, we can say that a person delivered vaginally and natural breastfed by natural mother, the microbiome is the complex of “friendly” bacteria that live with us, and thanks to which we are healthy and are not immediately exterminated by the bacteria and viruses that are "enemies" of our cells. [2]Nutrition is not simply a matter of taste or excesses, but interferes with the immune system and commensal bacteria inherited within the family through these strains and by this interference can cause health or disease.

Gastro-intestinal disorders of pregnancy are welcomed if they can become an occasion for neglected problems and a possible new reason for an healthy diet.

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