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ScienceDaily_2014 14505.txt

#Mothers diet linked to premature birth: fruits, vegetables linked to reduced risk of preterm deliverypregnant women who eat a prudent diet rich in vegetables fruits whole grains and who drink water have reduced a significantly risk of preterm delivery suggests a study published on bmj. com today. A traditional dietary pattern of boiled potatoes fish and cooked vegetables was linked also to a significantly lower risk. Although these findings cannot establish causality they support dietary advice to pregnant women to eat a balanced diet including vegetables fruit whole grains and fish and to drink water. Preterm delivery (before 37 weeks of pregnancy) is associated with significant short and long term ill-health and accounts for almost 75%of all newborn deaths. Evidence shows that a mother's dietary habits can directly affect her unborn child so researchers based in Sweden Norway and Iceland set out to examine whether a link exists between maternal diet and preterm delivery. Using data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study they analyzed preterm births among 66000 women between 2002 and 2008. To be included participants had to be free of diabetes have delivered a live single baby and completed a validated food frequency questionnaire on dietary habits during the first four to five months of pregnancy. Factors that may have affected the results (known as confounding) including a mother's age history of preterm delivery and education were taken into account. Preterm delivery was defined as delivery between 22 and<37 weeks of pregnancy. The researchers identified three distinct dietary patterns interpreted as prudent (vegetables fruits oils water as a beverage whole grain cereals poultry fibre rich bread) Western (salty and sweet snacks white bread desserts processed meat products) and traditional (potatoes fish gravy cooked vegetables low fat milk. Among the 66000 pregnant women preterm delivery occurred in 3505 (5. 3%)cases. After adjusting for several confounding factors the team found that an overall prudent dietary pattern was associated with a significantly reduced risk of preterm delivery especially among women having their first baby as well as spontaneous and late preterm delivery. They also found a significantly reduced risk of preterm delivery for the traditional dietary pattern. However the Western dietary pattern was associated not independently with preterm delivery. This indicates that increasing the intake of foods associated with a prudent dietary pattern is more important than totally excluding processed food fast food junk food and snacks say the authors. They stress that a direct (causal) link cannot be drawn from the results but say the findings suggest that diet matters for the risk of preterm delivery which may reassure medical practitioners that the current dietary recommendations are sound but also inspire them to pay more attention to dietary counselling. These findings are important as prevention of preterm delivery is of major importance in modern obstetrics. They also indicate that preterm delivery might actually be modified by maternal diet they conclude. In an accompanying editorial Professor Lucilla Poston at King's college London says healthy eating in pregnancy is always a good idea. She points to several studies that have proposed the benefit of a diet rich in fruit and/or vegetables in prevention of premature birth and says health professionals would therefore be well advised to reinforce the message that pregnant women eat a healthy diet. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by BMJ-British Medical Journal. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e

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