Nearly all pregnant women in China have an unhealthy diet, according to a survey released by experts from China Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the city yesterday…

“Most mothers-to-be are only familiar with proteins and vitamins. Many pregnant women do not understand that trace elements are very important for the fetus. Many women continue to eat their traditional diet which emphasizes fatty and rich food,” said Dr Xu Qingmei, vice director of the institute.

“Fewer than 60 percent of the women surveyed knew that the development of intelligence starts from the fetus. The rest believed the brain developed after a child was born.”

She said 96.7 percent of the respondents said they ate too much or lacked appetite and were not eating diets recommended by their doctors. The average intake of cereals for the surveyed women was only 50 percent of the recommended amount. And they consumed less than 20 percent of the recommended amount of vegetables…

Source: Shanghai Daily, China
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