Pregnant mothers sticking to USDA diet guidelines cut infant obesity risk, study finds

Pregnant mothers who maintain a diet meeting the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans to full term may be more likely to have infants with healthy birth weights, steadier growth patterns and potentially a reduced risk of obesity later in childhood, according to a new study. 

The research, published in JAMA Network Open, included more than 2,800 mother-child pairs, suggests that the prenatal diet could have long-term positive effects on infant growth up to 24 months.

It also found that eating a healthy diet during pregnancy was linked with a lower chance of extremely rapid infant growth. The authors stress this rapid growth occurring from birth to 24 months is a strong predictor of obesity later in life.

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

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

Two key dietary measures

The study looked at maternal eating patterns using two dietary measures, the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) and the Empirical Dietary Inflammatory Pattern (EDIP).

The HEI measures overall diet quality. The EDIP score measures how likely a diet is to cause inflammation in the body. Diets with high EDIP scores have been linked to increased levels of inflammation.

Key findings from the research showed that higher HEI scores, reflecting healthier diets, were associated with a 12% reduced chance of infants being born large for gestational age (LGA), alongside lower rates of rapid growth up to six and 24 months.

Lower EDIP scores, indicating diets with reduced inflammatory potential, were associated with a 24% higher chance of LGA and had mixed effects on growth: slower from birth to six months but faster growth between birth and 12 months. The authors say this association was less clear and warrants further study.

Assessing rapid growth

To assess rapid growth, the study relied on a measurement called the weight-for-length z-score (WLZ), a tool used to track an infant’s growth. It compares a baby’s weight to its length and tells you how far a baby’s weight is from the average weight of babies of the same length. 

The study found eating a healthy diet during pregnancy was linked with a lower chance of extremely rapid infant growth.Rapid growth was defined as a significant increase in WLZ scores from birth to 6, 12 or 24 months.

Babies whose WLZ scores jumped more than expected moved to a higher percentile on the growth chart, meaning they weighed more relative to their peers of the same length.

The researchers say the findings represent an opportunity for an early obesity prevention strategy. However, more research is needed to learn how low-inflammatory diets during pregnancy might benefit fetal and infant growth.

About the study

The study analyzed data collected between 2007 and 2021 from the ECHO Program about 2,854 mother-child pairs.

Among the children studied, 48.7% were girls. Children came from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds: 23.3% White, 22.4% Black, 35.8% Hispanic, 7.8% Asian and 7.8% other racial backgrounds. Researchers collected information on diet, birth size, and infant growth at 6, 12 and 24 months through medical records and other measurement tools.

The study was funded by the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program at the National Institutes of Health.

In other prenatal nutrition research, a low-sugar diet for babies in utero and in their first 1,000 days was recently found to reduce diabetes risk by 35% and hypertension risk by 20%. The study in Science highlights sugar restriction delayed the onset of diabetes by four years and hypertension by two years. Mothers’ low sugar intake before birth lowered the risk, but sustained sugar restriction increased benefits. 

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