Major dietary patterns in pregnancy and fetal growth

Objectives: To investigate possible associations between maternal diet during pregnancy and fetal growth. Method: Factor analysis was used to explore dietary patterns among pregnant women. The association between maternal dietary patterns and fetal growth ( in terms of small for gestational age, SGA) was investigated by logistic regression. Prospective cohort study, including information on 44 612 women in Denmark. Results: Two major dietary patterns were defined: the first pattern was characterized by red and processed meat, high-fat dairy, and the second pattern was characterized by intake of vegetables, fruits, poultry and fish. Women were classified into three classes according to their diet: the first class had high intake of foods of the first dietary pattern, and was classified as ` the Western diet', the second class preferred foods of the second pattern and was classified as the ` Health Conscious'; and the third one had eaten foods of both patterns, and was classified as the ` Intermediate'. The odds ratio of having a small for gestationalage infant ( with a birth weight below the 2.5th percentile for gestational age and gender) was 0.74 ( 95% CI 0.64 - 0.86) for women in the Health Conscious class compared with women in the Western Diet class. The analyses were adjusted for parity, maternal smoking, age, height, pre- pregnancy weight and father's height. Conclusions: Our results indicated that a diet in pregnancy, based on red and processed meat and high- fat diary, was associated with increased risk for SGA. Further studies are warranted to identify specific macro-, or micronutrients that may be underlying these associations.