Study Finds that a Healthy Diet is Important to a Healthy Pregnancy

Bravo researchers!

Finally a study was conducted to determine if women's diets before and during pregnancy had an influence on the health of a fetus. The study which was written about in ScienceDaily on October 4, 2011, interviewed thousands of woman, who had given birth to either healthy infants or those born with a cleft lip or palate or a neural tube defect, about their dietary habits prior to and during pregnancy. These diets were compared to both the Dietary Guidelines for Americans as well as the Mediterranean dietary pattern which is rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats found in fish and olives (including oil). This is the first study to actually assess the diet as a whole versus singling out the necessity of ingesting a single nutrient, such as folic acid and the necessity of it to assist in the closure of the neural tube. Prior research had been searching for a quick fix or "magic bullet" that would lead to the key to giving birth to a healthy infant. Low-and-behold, the magic bullet is simply eating a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, fibre, and low in saturated fats and processed foods. Seems like common sense to this dietetic intern, but now that a healthy diet has been shown to reduce the risk of birth defects, health professionals finally have some backing to reinforce the necessity of eating healthfully.

The actual published article can be found here in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.