As part of the Mumbai Maternal Nutrition Project young mothers were given a micronutrient rich food based supplement during the pre conception period and throughout the period of their pregnancy. The supplements included green leafy vegetables, fruit and milk incorporated into various snacks (eaten in addition to the normal food intake and not as a substitute ) with 24 recipes used in random rotation. The project seeks to prove that enhancing the micronutrient quality of a woman’s diet improves maternal micronutrient status, increases foetal survival rates.

The study will subsequently measure micronutrient status, foetal growth and neonatal body composition and will also explore the effect of the intervention on maternal and neonatal immune function as well as interactions between maternal infection and foetal growth. The study, which is being evaluated within a randomised framework, is expected to generate high quality data. It will rigorously track all women who have taken the supplements right from the pre conception stage into their pregnancy and after delivery, following up their children till they are at least one year old.

Partners in the project supported by SIG include the Centre for the Study of Social Change, Mumbai, and Society for the Natal Effects of Health in Adults (SNEHA) India, Medical Research Council Epidemiology Resource Centre as well as the Institute of Human Nutrition, University of Southampton, UK. The pilot study was completed in 2005 in partnership with Srihitkarini, a local NGO in the slum communities of Dadar and Prabhadevi in central Mumbai. It has since expanded to cover about 5000 eligible women from 20,000 families from slums in the suburbs of Mumbai in Bandra (East) and Khar (East).