Abstract
Background/ObjectivesTo assess whether quality of maternal diet affects birth weight and the risk of small for gestational age (SGA) and/or large for gestational age (LGA) babies.Subjects/MethodsThis study is based on the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and includes 65,904 pregnant women who answered a validated food frequency questionnaire at mid-pregnancy. Three maternal dietary patterns were extracted based on characteristics of food items in each pattern. From these we created four non-overlapping groups: “high prudent,” “high Western,” “high traditional,” and “mixed”. We obtained information about birth weight from the Norwegian Medical Birth Registry and calculated birth weight z-scores, SGA, and LGA according to an ultrasound-based, population-based, and a customized growth standards. Associations were studied by linear and multiple logistic regression.ResultsCompared to the high Western group, the high prudent group was associated with lower birth weight (βultrasoundz-scores −0.041 (95% confidence interval (CI): −0.068, −0.013)) and the high traditional group with higher birth weight (βultrasound 0.067 (95% CI: 0.040, 0.094)) for all three growth standards. The high prudent pattern was associated with increased SGA risk (SGAultrasound odds ratio (OR) 1.25 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.54)) and decreased LGA risk (LGApopulation OR 0.84 (95% CI: 0.75, 0.94)), while the high traditional group on the contrary was associated with decreased SGA (SGAcustomized OR 0.92 (95% CI: 0.84, 0.99)) and increased LGA risk (LGApopulation OR 1.12 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.24)).ConclusionsFood quality was associated with birth weight in this well-nourished Norwegian population. Food quality may affect a woman’s risk of giving birth to a SGA or LGA baby.
Highlights
Abnormal infant birth weight is correlated with increased infant mortality and morbidity [1,2,3,4]
Women in the high Western group had the highest intake of fat, carbohydrates, and added sugar, and the lowest intake of dietary fiber, while women in the high prudent group had the opposite intakes for all these variables
The high prudent group had the lowest percentage of energy from fat and sugar, and women in this group had the highest intake of dietary fiber
Summary
Abnormal infant birth weight is correlated with increased infant mortality and morbidity [1,2,3,4]. In about 20% of all births, the babies are born either small for gestational age (SGA) or large for gestational age (LGA) [5]. Associations between maternal dietary patterns and infant birth weight, small and large for gestational. Besides genetic potential [14] and placenta function [15], maternal nutritional status is the major contributor to birth weight [16], but the associations between overall diet quality and birth weight and the risks of SGA and LGA are not well understood. Several studies have focused on individual foods or nutrients in relation to birth weight [17, 18]. Some studies have shown that unhealthy dietary patterns increase the risk of babies being born SGA [23, 24], while others found no such association [25]. In addition to population differences, inconsistent results between studies might be due to the use of different outcome definitions, as there is no international consensus on growth standards, and SGA or LGA definition
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