Fact vs fiction - what's best for baby?

If you visited our "Fact vs fiction: what's best for baby?" exhibit at FUTURES 2022 here is where you can find more information about the research we shared on maternal and fetal health

Eating oily fish

A woman’s mercury level during pregnancy is unlikely to have an adverse effect on the development of the child provided that the mother eats fish, according to a University of Bristol-led study that compared analyses on over 4,131 pregnant mothers from the Children of the 90s study in the UK with similar detailed studies in the Seychelles.

Eating nuts and seeds

Nobody has studied specifically if eating nuts and seeds during pregnancy is beneficial for the babies health. However, they are a good source of protein, omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients, which are beneficial in general.

Eating raw or undercooked food

There is always a risk of infection when eating raw or undercooked food, but during pregnancy good food safety becomes more important. This is because the mother’s immune system adjusts during pregnancy to prevent her body from rejecting the fetus and the unborn baby does not have a developed one.

Eating liver or derivatives

The NHS recommends not to take cod liver oil or any supplements containing vitamin A during pregnancy. There is some evidence that too much vitamin A is harmful for the baby. However, if vitamin A intake is deficient, this is also a problem! With a balanced diet, vitamin A levels do not have to be an issue.

Exercising

Exercising is beneficial for most people and it also is recommended during pregnancy. For instance, it is beneficial to keep blood pressure and weight gain at its desirable levels and to prevent gestational diabetes. However, we need to conduct more studies to better understand its effects on the newborn.

A birth in the ocean

This is just a crazy idea in 2022. There is risk of infections for both the newborn and the mother, they could drown, the baby could die of hypothermia and many things could go wrong. A free birth is nothing to do with uninformed decisions against scientific progress. 

Having a vegetarian diet

Previous studies showed that adherence to vegetarian diets during pregnancy might be related to a lower risk of gestational diabetes in the mother but lower birth weight of their offspring. Our ongoing research at IEU uses data from several European countries to explore the causal effects of maternal vegetarian diets on pregnancy and fetal health. With dietary data collected during pregnancy, we classify different subgroups of vegetarians (vegans, lacto-ovo-vegetarians, flexitarians and so on) and quantify the intake of plant-based foods for a comprehensive evaluation. This work will provide evidence to inform dietary guidelines for pregnant women.

Drinking coffee

With data from the UK, Norway and Finland and a range of reliable analytical methods, our research at IEU did NOT find strong evidence that coffee intake would greatly impact pregnancy and fetal health (for example, increasing the risk of miscarriage, preterm birth, or low birth weight). Although coffee intake might increase the risk of maternal anaemia, our findings generally suggested that drinking coffee during pregnancy might NOT be as harmful as previously concerned.

 

Age of mother

Older mothers are more likely to experience pregnancy complications such as high blood pressure, miscarriage, a difficult labour or an under-weight birth. However, they may also have more money and life experience, allowing them to provide a better childhood environment for their child. The children of older mothers seem to live longer lives, suggesting that their childhood environment more than compensates for any initial disadvantages. Some pregnancy complications are also more common in very young mothers, and very young mothers may lack the resources to provide a good home for their child. However, in our current society people who have more money and education tend to start a family later. If the children of very young mothers are more likely, on average, to have difficulties, is this because their mother was young or because she was poor and under-educated? It’s very difficult to be sure of cause and effect in this field. What about the father’s age? There’s some evidence that the children of older fathers may also suffer initial problems, perhaps compensated for later by the greater wealth of older fathers. But older fathers tend to have children with older mothers, and it’s difficult to separate out the effects of the mother’s and the father’s age.