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Association between low dairy intake during pregnancy and small for gestational age infants

Abstract

Maternal nutrition is recognized as one of the main determinants of fetal growth. We analyzed the risk of having a Small for Gestational Age (SGA) newborn according to maternal dairy intake during pregnancy. A matched case-control study was conducted in Spain. Dietary intake during pregnancy was assessed using a validated Food Frequency Questionnaire. Odds ratios (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using conditional logistic regression models. 518 cases (SGA) and 518 controls (adequate birth weight) were included. Most study participants did not meet the current recommendations for dairy intake (78.6% cases and 80.2% controls). Intake of dairy products was not associated with a lower frequency of SGA, aORQ4 vs. Q1 = 1.12 (95% CI 0.73, 1.70), and aORQ5 vs. Q1 = 1.44 (95% CI 0.92, 2.26). Our results suggest that a low dairy intake during pregnancy is not associated with an increased risk of SGA; possibly due to the low consumption of dairy in both groups.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Ingrid de Ruiter, MBChB, PhD, for providing English language and editing support.

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Health Carlos III (grant number PI11/02199).

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Contributions

MD-R and JMM-G designed the research; MD-R and JMM-G conducted the research; MD-R, and JJJ-M. analyzed data; RO-R, CA-P, NC-I, RB-R, JMM-G and IS-B wrote the paper; MD-R had primary responsibility for final content. All authors read and approved the final paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juan Miguel Martínez-Galiano.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards disclosure

This study was conducted according to the guidelines laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki and all procedures involving human subjects/patients were approved by the Ethics Committees of the hospitals participating in the study: Comité de Ética de la Investigación del Complejo Universitario de Granada (Committee of Ethics of the Investigation of the University of Granada Hospitals), Comité de Ética de la Investigación del Hospital de Poniente (Committee of Ethics of the Investigation of the Poniente Hospital), Comité de Ética de la Investigación del Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Jaén (Committee of Ethics of the Investigation of the University of Jaen Hospital) and Comité de Ética de la Investigación del Hospital de Úbeda (Committee of Ethics of the Investigation of Ubeda Hospital). Verbal informed consent was obtained from all subjects/patients.Verbal consent was witnessed and formally recorded.

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Olmedo-Requena, R., Martínez-Galiano, J.M., Amezcua-Prieto, C. et al. Association between low dairy intake during pregnancy and small for gestational age infants. Eur J Clin Nutr 73, 1642–1645 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-019-0513-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-019-0513-y

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