Reviews these carbohydrate-lipid interactions and analyzes the role of maternal body fat accumulation during the early part of pregnancy in the metabolic adaptations during late gestation. The consequences and intimately related aspects of these interactions are several of the other changes that occur in the maternal/fetal relationship such as the· development of maternal hypertriglyceridemia, changes in the maternal amino acid metabolism, placental metabolite transfer, etc. These topics are reviewed in the other chapters of this book.