Reviewer's report
Title:Evaluation of dietary intake of lactating women in China and its potential
impact on the health of mothers and infants
Version: 1Date:5 April 2012
Reviewer: Mingyan Xiang
Reviewer's report:
Minor Essential Revisions:
1. Abstract (second paragraph)
L29: “… 199 healthy lactating women in the postpartum days 3, 8, 30, 90…” and
tables from 1 to 4 used days 2, 7, 30 and 90 for lactating women, and figure1
used days 2, 10, 30 and 90. The authors should consistently use the postpartum
days in the text, tables and figure.
2. Introduction (second paragraph)
L78: “… that seen in the more developed countries.” should be ‘… that is seen in
the more developed countries’.
3. Methods (fourth paragraph)
L134: “The significance level was set at P = 0.05, …” should be ‘The significance
level was set at P<0.05, …’.
4. Results (first paragraph)
L141: “…22.8~23.3 (±1.9~2.2) and ….” should be ‘…22.8~23.4 (±1.9~2.2) and
…’. (according to table1)
L143-144: “… lower than that of lactating women (20.9±1.1).” should be ‘…lower
than that of lactating women (23.0±2.0?). (according to table 1)
5. Discussion
L285-286 (third paragraph): “Thus, the self-selected diet of lactating mothers in
southeast costal China ….” should be Thus, the self-selected diet of lactating
mothers in southeast coastal China …’.
L299-301 (fourth paragraph): “The recommended average macronutrient caloric
composition of the Chinese diet is ~55% to 65% of calories from carbohydrates,
~12% to 16% from protein and 20% to 30% from fat [21, 22, 28].” should
consistently be with “The Chinese Dietary Guidelines [22, 28] recommends the
distribution of energy intake from three important nutrients as carbohydrate
55%#65%, fat 20%#30%, and protein 10~15%.” (in Results, sixth paragraph,
L207-209)
L338-340 (sixth paragraph): “…, ranging from ~290 mg/day at day 3 to ~170
mg/day at day 90 of lactation.” should be ‘…, ranging from ~290 mg/day at day 7
to ~170 mg/day at day 90 of lactation.’ (according to table 4)
L351-353 (seventh paragraph): “The mean carbohydrate intake from cereals
during the first 90 days of lactation was only 108.9g/d~ 123.8g/d (Table 2).” The
authors need to check the data (i.e. 108.9g/d~ 123.8g/d).
L361-364 (seventh paragraph): “Surprisingly, the control group of women
consumed only 37~43% of the recommended carbohydrate (RNI
316.3#373.8g/day) (Table 4), while their protein and fat intake were ~12% and
20% higher than the RNI (Figure 1).” There is a self-contradiction because the fat
intake of the control group was 64.3 g/day which is in the normal range i.e.
51.1-76.7 g/day (see Table 4).
Discretionary Revisions:
1. Vitamin D is an essential nutrient for mothers and infants. The paper hasn’t
included the data of vitamin D. Could any explanation be given?
2. Fat can be saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. The
polyunsaturated fats are essential dietary nutrients required for optimal human
growth and development. The paper had only the data of total fat. Could any
explanation be given?
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.