Determination of Lysine Requirements in Pregnancy

University of British Columbia

Status

Completed

Conditions

Pregnancy

Treatments

Dietary Supplement: Lysine intake

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT01776931

H11-02435

Details and patient eligibility

About

Amino acids are building blocks of protein in our body. It is important that pregnant women eat adequate amount of protein/amino acids to ensure healthy growth and development of the fetus.Lysine is an amino acid that is present in high amounts only in animal foods (meat) and not much in plant foods such as wheat. Currently , it is not known how much lysine is needed to eat during pregnancy.

Current Dietary Reference Intake recommendations for amino acid requirements are based on non-pregnant adults, and minimally based on pregnancy-specific data.To the investigators knowledge, there is no scientific information regarding the amount of lysine needed at different stages of pregnancy.

The investigators hypothesize that current recommendations for lysine intake in pregnant women are underestimated. The investigators also hypothesize that the lysine requirements will be greater during the later stages of pregnancy, compared to early stages.

The purpose of this study is to determine lysine requirements in healthy pregnant women 19-40y,(1st and 3rd trimester) using a modern, safe and quick technique called the indicator amino acid oxidation technique and to compare lysine requirements during early (15-18 weeks last menstrual period) late (33-36 weeks last menstrual period) stages of pregnancy.

Enrollment

20 patients

Sex

Female

Ages

19 to 40 years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Singleton pregnancy
Maternal age 19-40y
Early stage of pregnancy(15-18 weeks) and late stage of pregnancy(33-36 weeks)
In good health (free of chronic/acute illness, full range of physical mobility)
Healthy pre-pregnancy body mass index

Exclusion criteria

Subjects outside the age range of 19-40y
Women pregnant with more than one child
Body mass Index less than 18.5kg/m2 or greater than 25 kg/m2
less than 18 months between current pregnancy and last pregnancy
History of spontaneous abortion,pre-term birth, preeclampsia/eclampsia, gestational diabetes, pregnancy-related anemia, pregnancy related jaundice
Existing metabolic disease
Substance dependance (i.e. alcohol, cigarette, illicit drugs)
Allergic to eggs and egg protein
Severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy