Nutritional issues for women in developing countries.

There has been increased recognition over the past decade of the importance of nutrition in women in developing countries with international organizations' initiatives encouraging work on the issue. However, discussion of women's nutrition in developing countries has focused upon maternal nutrition with regard to the effect of maternal nutritional status on birth weight and lactational performance. Little attention has been given to the well-being of the mother and the effects of nutrition on her performance in social and economic activities. The author instead discusses maternal nutrition in relation to the nutritional status of the mother rather than that of the child. She also considers other aspects of women's nutrition. Developing countries, childhood undernutrition, gender discrimination, reproductive health, teenage pregnancy, work and energy expenditure, the implications of time constraints for nutrition and health care, dietary intakes, intrahousehold food distribution, chronic energy deficiency, anemia, and older women are discussed.