Author Description

This book, covering the 39th Nestle Nutrition Workshop, is based on a presentation forum by international experts in placental function and fetal nutrition. The availability of new imaging and research techniques now permits broader studies in human pregnancy and basic research, better illustrating the association between clinical pathology and placental dysfunction and fetal malnutrition. The five sessions of the conference include a mixture of basic and clinical research topics; and follow the progress made in understanding placental transport and metabolism and its impact on human pregnancy. The illuminating presentations captured in this text offer a far more precise description of normal fetal growth and metabolism, along with the possibility of exploring how specific maternal diseases affect fetal and placental nutrition. Suggestions for potential therapeutic application to human pregnancies are discussed with sensitivity and insight.