Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T15:38:41.192Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Maternal consumption of pulque, a traditional central Mexican alcoholic beverage: relationships to infant growth and development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

Jeffrey R Backstrand*
Affiliation:
Department of Nutrition & Food Studies, New York University, 35 West 4th Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10012, USA:
Lindsay H Allen
Affiliation:
Department of Nutrition, 3135 Meyer Hall, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616-8966, USA:
Eulalia Martinez
Affiliation:
Division de Nutrición de Comunidad, Instituto Nacional de la Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Vasco de Quiroga #15, Tlalpan Mexico City DF, DF 1400, Mexico:
Gretel H Pelto
Affiliation:
Division of Nutritional Sciences, 210 Savage Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-6301, USA
*
*Corresponding author: Email [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Objectives:

To document the consumption during pregnancy of pulque, a traditional central Mexican alcoholic beverage, and its relationship to subsequent infant size, physical growth and performance on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development.

Design:

Prospective cohort study.

Setting:

Six villages in rural, central Mexico in 1984–1985.

Subjects:

Seventy mother–infant pairs.

Results:

Most women (72.9%) consumed pulque during pregnancy, and 28.6% consumed more than 150 g ethanol week−1 from the beverage. Individuals who consumed pulque showed no compensating decrease in energy obtained from other foods. Pulque consumption possessed curvilinear relationships with both infant length (at 1 and 6 months) and Bayley mental performance (at 6 months). Heavy pulque intakes were associated with smaller infant size and poorer mental performance. In modest quantities, pulque consumption may have been beneficial due to its micronutrient content.

Conclusions:

Intakes of alcohol from pulque were common among pregnant women in these rural, central Mexican villages. Given current scientific knowledge of the adverse effects of ethanol on foetal development, public health interventions are needed to reduce heavy pulque consumption during pregnancy in some areas of rural Mexico.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © CABI Publishing 2001

References

1Jéquier, E. Alcohol intake and body weight: a paradox Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1999; 69, 173–4.Google ScholarPubMed
2Mandishona, EM, Moyo, VM, Gordeuk, VR, Khumalo, H, Saungweme, T, Gangaidzo, IT, Gomo, ZA, Rouault, T, MacPhail, AP. A traditional beverage prevents iron deficiency in African women of child bearing age Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 1999; 53, 722–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3de Barrios, VB. A Guide to Tequila, Mezcal, and Pulque. Mexico DF: Minutiae Mexicana, 1991.Google Scholar
4Super, JC, Vargas, LA, Kiple, KF, Ornelas, KC. The history and culture of food and drink in the Americas. In: Kiple, KF, Ornelas, KC, eds. The Cambridge World History of Food. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000; 1248–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5Steinkraus, KH.ed. Handbook of Fermented Foods, 2nd edn. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1996.Google Scholar
6Hernandez, M, Chávez, A, Bourges, H. Valor nutritivo de los alimentos, 8a edicion.Publication L12.Mexico DF:Instituto Nacional de la Nutricion, 1980.Google Scholar
7Murphy, SP, Calloway, DH, Beaton, GH. School children have similarly predicted prevalences of inadequate intake as toddlers in village populations in Egypt, Kenya, and Mexico Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 1995; 49, 647–57.Google Scholar
8Calloway, DH, Murphy, SP, Beaton, GH, Lein, D. Estimated vitamin intakes of toddlers – predicted prevalence of inadequacy in village populations in Egypt, Kenya, and Mexico Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1993 58, 376–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9Murphy, SP, Beaton, GH, Calloway, DH. Estimated mineral intakes of toddlers: predicted prevalence of inadequacy in village populations in Egypt, Kenya and Mexico Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1992; 56, 565–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10Schultes, RE, Raffauf, RF. The Healing Forest: Medicinal and Toxic Plants of the Northwest Amazonia.Portland, OR: Dioscorides Press, 1990.Google Scholar
11Peana, AT, Moretti, MDL, Manconi, V, Desole, G, Pippia, P. Anti-inflamatory activity of aqueous extracts and steroidal sapogenins of Agave americana. Planta Medica 1997; 63, 199202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12Duke, JACRC Handbook of Medicinal Herbs. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 1985.Google Scholar
13DeNinno, MP, McCarthy, PA, Diplantier, KC, Eller, C, Entienne, JB, Zawistoski, MP, et al. Steroidal glycocide cholesterol absorption inhibitors J. Med. Chem. 1997; 40, 2547–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14Schultes, RE. Plants of the Gods: Origins of Hallucinogenic Use. New York: McGraw-Hill,1979.Google Scholar
15Allebeck, P, Olsen, J. Alcohol and fetal damage Alcohol Clin. Exp. Res. 1998; 22, 329S–32S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16Bell, GL, Lau, K. Perinatal and neonatal issues of substance abuse Pediatr. Clin. North Am. 1995 42, 268–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
17Sokol, RJ, Clarren, SK. Guidelines for use of terminology describing the impact of prenatal alcohol on the offspring Alcohol Clin. Exp. Res. 1989; 13, 597–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18ACC/SCN Secretariat. Fourth Report on the World Nutrition Situation. Geneva: ACC/SCN in collaboration with IFPRI, 2000.Google Scholar
19Martorell, R, Habicht, J-P. Growth in early childhood in developing countries.Falkner, F, Tanner, RM, eds. Human Growth: A Comprehensive Treatise. New York: Plenum Press 1986; 241–62.Google Scholar
20Wachs, TD. Relation of mild-to-moderate malnutrition to human development: correlational studies J. Nutr. 1995; 125, 2245S–54S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21Allen, LH, Backstrand, JR, Chávez, A, Pelto, GH. Humans Cannot Live by Tortillas Alone: The Results of the Mexico Nutrition CRSP. Final Report to USAID. Storrs, CT: Department of Nutritional Sciences, The University of Connecticut, 1992.Google Scholar
22Bayley, N. Manual for the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. New York: The Psychological Corporation, 1969.Google Scholar
23World Health Organization (WHO). Measuring Change in Nutritional Status. Geneva: WHO,1983.Google Scholar
24Dibley, MJ, Goldsby, JB, Staehling, NW, Trowbridge, FL. Development of normalized curves for the international growth reference: historical and technical considerations Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1987 46, 736–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
25Willett, W. Nutritional Epidemiology.2nd edn. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
26Murphy, SP, Calloway, DH, Steward, RM. Development of a database for the Nutrition CRSP project Proceedings of the Fifteenth National Nutrient Databank Conference. Ithaca, NY: The CBORD Group, 1991.Google Scholar
27Cravioto, RO, Lockhart, EE, Anderson, RK, Miranda, F, Harris, RS. Composition of typical Mexican foods J. Nutr. 1945 29, 317–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
28Cravioto, RO, Massieu, G, Guzmán, J. Composicíon de alimentos mexicanos Ciencia 1951; 11, 129–55.Google Scholar
29Sanchez-Marroquin, A., Mexican pulque – a fermented drink from Agave juice. Paper presented at Symposium on Indigenous Fermented Foods,Bangkok, Thailand,1977.Google Scholar
30Backstrand, JR. Patterns of household food intake in rural, central Mexico. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 1990.Google Scholar
31Backstrand, JR, Allen, LH, Pelto, GH, Chávez, AExamining the gender gap in nutrition: an example from rural Mexico Soc. Sci. Med. 1997 44, 1751–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
32Joint FAO/WHO/UNU Expert commission. Energy and Protein Requirements.World Health Organization Technical Report Series 724. Geneva: World Health Organization, 1985.Google Scholar
33Aiken, LS, Stephen, SG. Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions.Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1991.Google Scholar
34Cohen, RA. An introduction to PROC LOESS for local regression. Paper 273 presented at SAS Users Group International 24th Annual Conference,Miami, FL,April 1999.Google Scholar
35Cleveland, WS, Devlin, SJ. Locally weighted regression: an approach to regression analysis by local fitting J. Am. Stat. Assoc. 1988 83, 596610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
36Instituto Nacionál de la Nutrición Salvidor Zubirán (INNSZ). Ingestión diaria recomendada de energia, proteina, vitaminas y minerales para la población mexicana. Mexico DF: INNSZ, 1997.Google Scholar
37Allen, LH, Rosado, JL, Casterline, JE, Martinez, H, López, P, Muñoz, E, Black, AKVitamin B-12 deficiency and malabsorption are highly prevalent in rural Mexican communities Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1995 62, 1013–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
38Black, AK, Allen, LH, Pelto, GH, de Mata, MP, Chavez, A. Iron, vitamin B-12 and folate status in Mexico: associated factors in men and women and during pregnancy and lactation J. Nutr. 1994 124, 1179–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
39Muñoz, EC, Rosado, JL, López, P, Furr, HC, Allen, LH. Iron and zinc supplementation improves indicators of vitamin A status of Mexican preschoolers Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2000; 71, 789–94.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
40Redfield, M. Notes on the cookery of Tepoztlan, Morelos Am. J. Folk Lore 1929 XLII(164), 167–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
41Anderson, RK, Calvo, J, Serrano, G, Payne, GC. A study of the nutritional status and food habits of Otomi Indians in the Mezquital Valley of Mexico Am. J. Pub. Health 1946 36, 883903.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
42West, JR, Alkana, RL, DeBold, JF, West, JR. Alcohol exposure and altered brain development: present status and implications for future research.In: West, JR, ed. Alcohol and Brain Development. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986; 406–27.Google Scholar
43Flores-Huerta, S, Hernandez-Montes, H, Argote, RM, Villalpando, S. Effects of ethanol consumption during pregnancy and lactation on the outcome and postnatal growth of the offspring Ann. Nutr. Metab. 1992 36, 121–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
44Orozco, M, Martínez, H, Reyes, H, Guiscafré, H. A scale without anthropometric measurements can be used to identify low weight-for-age in children less than five years old J. Nutr. 1998 128, 2363–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
45Forrest, F, Florey, CD, Taylor, D. Maternal alcohol consumption and child development Int. J. Epidemiol. 1992; 21, S17-S23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
46Day, NL, Goldschmidt, L, Robles, N, Richardson, G, Cornelius, M, Taylor, P, Geva, D, Stoffer, D. Prenatal alcohol exposure and offspring growth at 18 mo: the predictive validity of two measures of drinking Alcohol Clin. Exp. Res. 1991; 15, 914–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
47Goldschimidt, L, Richardson, GA, Stoffer, DS, Day, NLPrenatal alcohol exposure and academic achievement at age six: a nonlinear fit. Alcohol Clin. Exp. Res. 1996 20, 763–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar