Despite of various information and intervention programs, overweight and obesity remain on a high level in Austria with a prevalence of 41% in adults (Rust et al., 2017). According to the WHO Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI), overweight and obesity prevalence among Austrian 8 and 9 year olds is even rising at an alarming rate having reached about 30% in boys and 25% in girls (Weghuber et al., 2017). As childhood overweight and obesity often persist into adulthood, the upward trend poses a major public health challenge by giving further rise to chronic noncommunicable diseases.
Fetal nutrition appears to play a crucial role in the etiology of obesity, however knowledge is lacking as to which nutritional factors exert the highest influence on the lifelong weight development of the child and thus should be primarily addressed in recommendations. Despite of the importance of maternal nutrition in pregnancy for fetal growth, the latest Austrian nutritional report lacks current data on food consumption and nutrient supply in pregnant women living in Austria (Rust et al., 2017). Thus within the "Josef Ressel Centre for Early Life Metabolic Programming of Dispositions of Obesity" we analyse the consumption and nutritional status of pregnant women using a food frequency questionnaire combined with a 24 h-dietary recall. Out of a cohort of 100 healthy, non-obese (pre-pregnancy BMI 19.5 – 30 kg/m2), non-smoking women, the food and drink consumption of 27 Austrian women during the last trimester of their pregnancy is presented and compared to national recommendations. Furthermore, a potential influence of the nutritional status on the birthweight of the child as a first risk factor for later overweight development will be deduced.

NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF PREGNANT WOMEN IN AUSTRIA AND ITS INFLUENCE ON INFANTS’ BIRTHWEIGHT