Nowadays - ( as sales of domestic personal computers far exceed sales of television sets in many markets ) - one should not ignore the potential of WorldWideWeb Internet-based newsgroups and chat forums to supplement other media of presentation. The younger generation in particular ( i.e. those most likely to have future needs for pregnancy counselling ) are especially keen to make use of these new facilities. As an extension of my promotion for this Health Education Project I have published the pages here included in the folder of this printed version - as well as additional relevant pictorial diagramatic material - on line at an open access internet URL . Anyone may access the promotion from any computer in the world connected to the internet.

The address is http://www.btinternet.com/~anthony.stokes/nutrient.htm . The URL has been registered with major indexing machines so as to be readily found by persons doing subject or word searches. Already there have been received e-mail responses and enquiries to my college assignment from as far afield as New Zealand , requesting extra information ! I have been especially pleased to send out printed literature which is inaccessible to people by other means. On the above URL are included ~ fifty links to additional "nutrition in pregnancy" resources available in the english speaking world. One particularly useful tool to which I have linked is the NutriGenie Pregnancy Nutrition V 4.1 for Windows. This is a shareware distributed 750kb program developed from findings of the American Academy of Pediatrics and National Academy of Sciences, and is claimed to be "a most comprehensive nutrition software for a mother's health and that of her child" : not only suitable for use by professional nutritionists, but also intended to be used by any computer-literate person. Included is a database of 8000 foods (plus space for more); with USDA food pyramid analyses for RDA, calories, protein,carbohydrate, total fat, calcium, iron, zinc and folate. Other features are a BMI and weight log, diet history, weight control planner, caloric need and caloric expenditure calculators, target heart rate calculator, caloric and nutrient distribution analyzer, & menu generator. Here is an effective and enjoyable way to take the difficulty out of calculating probable nutritional consequences from any number of possible combinations of foods during pregnancy.

Very important to effective health promotion is the dietary pattern assessment questionnaire. Routine counselling on feeding practice for all pregnant women is appropriate in order to allow for evaluation of any need of improved diet or supplementation: ( Including either increase or reduction of specific nutrients ) . The questionnaire about food history and frequecy, augmented by questions about special problems or conditions that might affect dietary adequacy or needs, (e.g. lifestyle and past illnesses) should be given at the earliest opportunity ; - and may be written or presented verbally during an interview with the G.P., nurse , midwife or health visitor, either before pregnancy or as soon after becoming pregnant as possible.

Thus there is found a mosaic of complementary means according to several models of health promotion which may be used for advancing better education - and hopefully in consequence better implementation - of optimised nutrition for this client womens' group. Examination and comparison of annually published regional and national health statistics should give some indication of whether there are any sensible health improvements in those areas reached by the promotion.