Assessment of the nutritional status in Croatian pregnant women by measuring skinfolds.

In a transversal study, we assessed the changes of body composition, body weight gain, skinfold thickness and the distribution of body fat during pregnancy in 181 healthy pregnant women in Zagreb. Weight gain in pregnant women was 14.4 kg on average, out of which 5.7 kg was the total increase in body fat. In healthy pregnant women the weight gain of more than 12 kg causes excessive accumulation of body fat and has no effect on the weight of placenta and newborn. There is no significant correlation between the body weight gain of pregnant women and the weight of newborns. The increase in skinfold thickness is neither proportional nor simultaneous. Changes in biceps and triceps skinfolds indicate the dependency on the level of estrogen, and subscapular and suprailiac skinfolds on the level of progesterone in the blood of pregnant women. The index of centripetal fat pattern decreases significantly in pregnancy and is referred to peripheral redistribution of body fat in regular pregnancy. The expected weight of the newborn (eBW) may be determined by the body mass index (BMI) and triceps skinfold thickness.