• Posted November 26, 2024

Mom's Healthy Diet in Pregnancy Pays Big Dividends for Baby

Moms who eat right during pregnancy are setting their kids up for good health, a new study says.

Expectant mothers who ate a quality diet were more likely to have kids with healthy birth weights, steadier growth patterns and a potentially reduced risk of obesity later in childhood, researchers found.

“The findings support a role for a balanced prenatal diet that aligns with the USDA Dietary Guidelines in promoting healthy birthweights and balanced growth through early childhood,” researcher Monique Hedderson of the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research said in a news release.

For the study, she and her team recruited more than 2,800 mother-child pairs around the U.S. The team used questionnaires to gauge pregnant women’s diet quality, and then tracked their baby’s development.

Results indicate that a healthy diet during pregnancy has positive effects on an infant’s growth up to 2 years of age, researchers said.

For example, “eating a healthy diet during pregnancy was linked with a lower chance of extremely rapid infant growth,” investigator Dr. Assiamira Ferrara, a senior scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research, said in a news release.

Rapid growth from birth to 24 months is a strong predictor of obesity later in life, Ferrara explained.

The study found that higher diet quality scores were associated with a 12% reduced chance of larger-than-usual newborns, as well as lower rates of rapid growth up to age 2.

Overall, the findings indicate that making sure expecting moms eat well could help counter childhood obesity, researchers said.

“This suggests the need for programs to help improve pregnant people’s access to healthy food and interventions to support healthy eating during pregnancy,” Hedderson said.

The new study was published Nov. 21 in JAMA Network Open.

More information

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has more on good diet during pregnancy.

SOURCE: National Institutes of Health, news release, Nov. 22, 2024