Improper diet may impair fetal growth and causes breast feeding failure

Emobileclinic Researchers’ corner

Improper diet during pregnancy is linked to impaired fetal growth in obese women and breastfeeding failure in the overall as noticed in a new study published on online nutrition journal , which examined the effect of diet inflammatory index (DII) on pregnancy outcome. The researchers observed that proinflammatory diet during pregnancy resulted to high DII  which is not beneficial to the body. Several studies has attributed high DII to execessive inflammation and oxidative stress in pregnancy, infections, diabetes, early pregnancy loss,congenital malformation, fetal growth restriction and preeclampsia. Another recent study has also showed that it may increase breast cancer risk. Thus it is important to know what proinflammatory diets are and take conscious effort to consuming anti- inflammatory diets always.

Diet high in fish, low-fat meats and dairy products, vegetable and nut oils, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes, whole grains, fish, fruit, and green vegetables, low in red meat and butter consumption, olive oil, fruit and vegetables, n–3 FAs , fiber, vitamin E, vitamin C , β-carotene , and magnesium   have consistently been shown to be associated with lower levels of inflammation, obesity, and cardiovascular disease as mentioned by the author.Anti- inflammatory diets  lower the chances of pre term birth.

”The so-called Western diet, which is characterized by a high intake of red meat, high-fat dairy products, refined grains, and simple carbohydrates, has been associated with higher concentrations of CRP and IL-6 ” says Sarbattarma Sen and collogues in the study.They observed 1808 mother-child of age 32 to 37 and BMI between 24 to 30;and calculated the DII from first- and second-trimester food-frequency questionnaires. The also observed the role of DII on maternal plasma C-reactive protein and white blood cell count in the second trimester, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, length of gestation, fetal growth, mode of delivery, and duration of breastfeeding before they could come to the conclusion high DII reduced fetal growth in obese and affected breast feeding. DII was positively correlated with prepregnancy BMI and  higher DII scores, reflected more proinflammatory dietary potential which  were associated with higher second-trimester plasma CRP  increase in maternal DII;  and lower birth weight for gestational age z score in infants born to obese mothers and increase in maternal DII. 

According to the author of the study, their ”study provides an assessment of dietary inflammation and systemic inflammation in relation to pregnancy outcomes. We have used the DII in a pregnant population for the first time, to our knowledge, and found a strong correlation with maternal CRP during pregnancy, suggesting that the DII may be a valuable tool in assessment of dietary inflammation in pregnancy,” they said . The study found maternal dietary inflammation may contribute to breastfeeding failure and lower birth weight. They advised that future studies may help seek to understand the mechanisms linking inflammation with these outcomes as well as attempt to limit these deleterious effects through intervention studies.