Relation of poverty and race to birth weight and organ and cell structure in the newborn

Based on studies of birth weights, there has long been speculation that poverty, inadequate maternal nutrition, and race might alter prenatal growth by influencing fetal nutrition. In the present study, undernutrition was identified as the cause of low birth weight in a group of infants born to poor urban mothers in the United States. A postmortem, quantitative, morphological study of body size, organ size, and cellular structure demonstrated that the infants of 83 poor mothers had many anatomic abnormalities recognized as characteristic of undernutrition. Such abnormalities were not found in infants from 386 families with incomes above the poverty line. There were almost no differences in body or organ growth among various racial groups when the comparisons were between families of similar economic status. Speculation Is the low birth weight in infants born to poor urban mothers due to abnormal nutrition during pregnancy, the mother’s earlier development, or uterine or placental abnormalities? If maternal malnutrition is responsible, the exact nutritional deficiencies should be promptly identified so that preventive programs can be developed. There is also a pressing need to know whether or not the moderate undernutrition observed in the present study alters brain composition and subsequent mental and motor performance.