278ASSESSMENT OF NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF PREGNANT WOMEN BELONGING TO LOW INCOME GROUPNumerous studies in India and elsewhere have shown that in chronically undernourished women subsisting on unchanged dietary intake, pregnancy and lactation have an adverse effect on maternal nutritional status. Maternal under nutrition is associated with low birth weight and all its attendant adverse consequences. The present study was conducted to study the nutritional status of pregnant women of low income group. A hospital based cross sectional study was carried out among 200 pregnant women from low socio-economic group attending the antenatal clinic for a period of three months. It was found that as the social class increased, the family’s monthly expenditure on food decreased. It was clearly seen that the mean value of a day’s sample menu for all 9 parameters studied, was deficient almost more than 50% when compared to ICMR recommended allowances. The prevalence of underweight was found to be 61.5%. Only 37% of pregnant women were in the normal weight category. A very high proportion i.e. 85.5% of women were found anemic. Thus it can be concluded that the nutritional status of pregnant women belonging to low social classes is found to be very poor. There is a need to give special attention to these groups of pregnant women to improve the pregnancy outcome among them.drnisal2013@rediffmail.comResearch582015Nutritional status,Pregnant women,Social classK.M. NisalAssociate Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, C. M. Medical College, Chhattisgarh, India.