Higher quality maternal diet attenuates negative associations of maternal paraben concentrations with newborn weight and length

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIM: We and others previously observed sex-specific negative associations of maternal paraben concentrations with birth weight (BW) and length (BL). Here, we evaluated whether maternal diet quality modifies these associations. METHODS: Pregnant women ages 18-40 years from Champaign-Urbana, IL provided 5 first-morning urines across pregnancy, which we pooled for analysis of butylparaben, ethylparaben, methylparaben, and propylparaben concentrations. We collected BW and BL data within 24hrs of birth and calculated sex-specific BW-for-gestational-age z-scores (BWz). Women completed 3-month semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires in early and mid-to-late pregnancy, which we used to calculate mean Alternative Healthy Eating Index 2010 (AHEI-2010) – reflecting foods predictive of chronic disease risk. Multivariable linear regression models evaluated whether associations of parabens with BWz (n=403) and BL (n=429) were modified by AHEI-2010 (dichotomized at the median) and whether the modification varied by fetal sex. We modeled ethylparaben, methylparaben, and propylparaben as continuous variables and butylparaben as zero/non-zero. RESULTS:This predominately non-Hispanic white, college-educated population had lower urinary paraben concentrations than other U.S. women. Median (range) AHEI-2010 was 55.8 (28.1–82.8) out of 110, while BW and BL were 3.5 kg (2.2–4.9) and 50.0 cm (43.9–55.9), respectively. Associations of parabens with birth size only emerged in female newborns whose mothers consumed a poorer diet (AHEI-2010median). In these newborns, each 2-fold increase in maternal methylparaben was associated with 0.1 (95%CI: 0.02, 0.2) lower BWz and 0.2 cm (95%CI: 0.02, 0.3) shorter BL, with similar associations observed for propylparaben. Similarly, female newborns of women who ate a poorer diet and had non-zero butylparaben concentrations had 0.4 (95%CI: 0.1, 0.8) lower BWz and 0.9 cm (95%CI: 0.1, 1.6) shorter BL than women with zero butylparaben concentrations. CONCLUSIONS:Healthier maternal diets may effectively minimize the negative associations between parabens and birth size in female newborns. Additional studies in more diverse populations are needed to confirm these findings. KEYWORDS: Birth outcomes, endocrine disrupting chemicals, phenols