Grant: Project Grant

Protein is important in diet to help growth and maintain health. All body proteins are made up of 20 amino acids. Among these 20 amino acids there are 9 amino acids, which our body cannot make, and therefore must come from food sources, and are called essential amino acids. The rest of the 11 amino acids can be made in our body if there is enough protein and calories in our food. But under some conditions, such as pregnant and lactating women, the body may need more protein and essential amino acids. Until now, studying pregnant and lactating women, and their protein (amino acid) needs has been difficult. Previously used methods were invasive and test diets had to be eaten for 7 days before testing. This could harm the actively growing baby. We have recently started to use a very minimally invasive state-of-the-art method, using stable isotopes and collection of breath samples to determine amino acid and protein needs. Stable isotopes are completely safe, and our method is rapid, quick and requires only one day of the test diet. Using this method we recently showed that the actual requirements for protein are quite high during pregnancy and lactation, compared to current recommendations. We are in now in a position to study this further and also find out the how much essential amino acids our body needs during different stages of pregnancy and lactation. Our study results will help in making improved diet recommendations to make sure both mother and baby are actively growing, and have a healthy, successful pregnancy and lactation.