Duration of pregnancy in relation to seafood intake during early and mid pregnancy: prospective cohort

Abstract

We examined the association between exposure to seafood intake during two periods of pregnancy on the one hand and risks of preterm delivery and postterm delivery on the other. In a prospective cohort of 8729 pregnant Danish women, we assessed frequency of fish meals during the first and second trimester of pregnancy by questionnaires completed around gestation weeks 16 and 30, respectively. When fish intake was based solely on intake reported for the early period of pregnancy, mean gestation length was shorter by 3.91 (95% CI: 2.24-5.58) days and odds of preterm delivery were increased 2.38 (1.23-4.61) times in those who never consumed fish (n = 308) vs. those who consumed both fish as main meal and fish in sandwiches at least once per week (n = 785). These measures were similar when fish intake was based solely on intake reported for mid-pregnancy. In the subgroup of women reporting same intake in the two trimesters, those who never consumed fish (n = 165) had 8.57 (5.46-11.7) days shorter mean gestation and 19.6 (2.32-165) times increased odds of preterm delivery, compared to high fish consumers (n = 127); odds of elective and postterm delivery were reduced by a factor 0.33 (0.11-1.02) and 0.34 (0.12-0.95), respectively, in zero fish consumers. All analyses were adjusted for potential confounding by factors such as maternal smoking, height, and prepregnant weight. We conclude that never consuming fish in the first two trimesters of pregnancy was an extremely strong risk factor for preterm delivery but was also associated with reduced risks of elective delivery and postterm delivery.

Dietary Arachidonic Acid to EPA and DHA Balance Is Increased among Canadian Pregnant Women with Low Fish Intake

“…These results support the use of the updated national databases to address the potential significance of differences in ARA intake on human health. Epidemiological studies have provided evidence that fish intake is inversely associated with risk of several chronic diseases, including CVD and some neurological and retinal diseases (6-9,29-31), whereas in pregnancy, higher intakes of fish are associated with a small increase in gestation length and lower risk of poor neurocognitive development and allergic and inflammatory disorders in children (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)32). In each of these cases, the beneficial effects of fish are considered to be due to EPA and DHA.…”

“…While specific information on the dietary (n-3) or (n-6): (n-3) fatty acid balance that poses risk of inadequate DHA is difficult to obtain, epidemiological and intervention studies to increase DHA intake in pregnancy that show benefits to gestation length and child visual and neurocognitive development indicate that dietary patterns among some women following western diets do result in functional deficiency of DHA (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)23,(49)(50)(51)(52)(53). For comparison to other studies with pregnant women, the intake of DHA in the present study was 160 6 169 mg/d (n = 204), while other studies in Canada have reported intakes of 82 6 115 mg/d and 160 6 246 mg/d DHA (24,27), with 81 6 94, 280 6 190, and 300 6 300 mg/d DHA among African American women and women in Belgium and Holland, respectively (54)(55)(56).…”

“…LA is found mainly in vegetable oils and currently represents 90% of the total PUFA in U.S. diets (14), whereas its metabolite ARA is found in animal tissue lipids, with most consumed in meats, poultry, and eggs. Epidemiological studies have shown that women with higher intakes of fish, and thus also EPA and DHA, during pregnancy have a small increase in gestation length and have children who score higher on tests of neural system development (15)(16)(17)(18)(19). However, the difference in distribution of ARA from EPA and DHA in meats, poultry, and fish raises the possibility that individuals with low intakes of fish, and thus also EPA and DHA, may also differ in intakes of ARA from individuals with diets higher in fish.…”

Polyunsaturated fatty acids modulate prostaglandin synthesis by ovine amnion cells in vitro

“…Faroese women and Greenland Eskimos) consuming diets rich in n-3 PUFAs showed delayed onset of uterine contractions at parturition and hence longer gestation periods (Horrobin & Manku 1990, Olsen et al 1991, Baguma-Nibasheka et al 1999, Szajewska et al 2006. More recent studies in humans have also tended to support a role for dietary n-3 PUFAs in the timing of parturition with a diet devoid of fish during pregnancy being associated with a higher risk of pre-term delivery (Olsen et al 2006), while a diet that included a modest intake of fish during gestation seemed to decrease the risk of spontaneous pre-term delivery (Olsen et al 2007). A possible explanation for the fish diet-induced delayed onset of parturition could be that the three-series PGs generated from n-3 PUFA substrates have less biological potency than their two-series counterparts generated from n-6 PUFA substrates.…”

Recent trends in publications in the European Journal of Epidemiology

“…We have published a substantial number of studies in developmental epidemiology, addressing fetal and other early life determinants of adult diseases [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. This involved in particular studies of low birth weight and cardiovascular disease and diabetes, in different ethnic populations, and under different nutritional conditions.…”