Technical background on preconception nutrition

This technical background paper is a companion piece to our report that reviews the latest evidence and guidelines for preconception nutrition for women and adolescent girls in undernourished contexts and offers our recommendations for what is needed next. 

This paper provides a more detailed exploration of the complex concepts and processes underpinning preconception nutrition for those readers who would like more technical background to the topic. 

In this paper, we begin with an overview of the biological processes involved in the preconception period followed by an introduction to the concept of the developmental origins of health and disease, with a focus on the evidence that explains why nutrition before conception is so critical. We then examine the role of nutrition in one-carbon metabolism – a network of interconnected metabolic pathways – and its importance in epigenetic processes. Finally, we consider the implications of these concepts, along with the existing evidence, for intergenerational health outcomes.