Dietary habits and supplement use in relation to national pregnancy recommendations: data from the EuroPrevall birth cohort.

• Published in: Maternal and Child Health Journal
• Main Authors: Oliver, E M, Grimshaw, K E C, Schoemaker, A A, Keil, T, McBride, D, Sprikkelman, A B, Ragnarsdottir, H S, Trendelenburg, V, Emmanouil, E, Reche, M, Fiocchi, A, Fiandor, A, Stanczyk-Przyluska, A, Wilczynski, J, Busacca, M, Sigurdardottir, S T, Dubakiene, R, Rudzeviciene, O, Vlaxos, G D, Beyer, K, Roberts, G
• Other Authors: 1 Emma Childrens Hosp Acad Med Ctr, Dept Paediat Resp Med & Allergy, Amsterdam, Netherlands 2 Univ Berlin, Inst Social Med, Epidemiol & Hlth Econ, Charit, Berlin, Germany 3 Univ Iceland, Fac Nursing, Reykjavik, Iceland 4 Landspitali Natl Univ Hosp, Dept Immunol, Reykjavik, Iceland 5 Univ Berlin, Dept Paediat Pneumol & Immunol, Charit, Berlin, Germany 6 Univ Athens, Dept Allergy, Nd Pediat Clin, Athens, Greece 7 Hosp Paz, Dept Allergy, Madrid, Spain 8 Pediat Hospitaln, Div Allergy, Dept Pediat, Bambino GesA, Rome, Vatican 9 Med Univ Lodz, Dept Pediat, Clin Immunol & Cardiol, Lodz, Poland 10 Polish Mothers Mem Hosp Res Inst, Dept Fetal Maternal Med & Gynecol, Lodz, Poland 11 Landspitali Natl Univ Iceland, Dept Immunol, Fac Med, Reykjavik, Iceland 12 Vilnius Univ, Fac Med, Vilnius, Lithuania 13 Univ Athens, Alexandra Hosp, Dept Obstet & Gynecol, Athens, Greece 14 Univ Wurzburg, Inst Clin Epidemiol & Biometry, Wurzburg, Germany
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 2015
• Subjects: Mataræði; Meðganga; Diet; Pregnancy; Food Preferences; Cohort Studies; Europe; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2336/552487; https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-014-1480-5

To access publisher's full text version of this article click on the hyperlink at the bottom of the page Assessing maternal dietary habits across Europe during pregnancy in relation to their national pregnancy recommendations. A collaborative, multi-centre, birth cohort study in nine European countries was conducted as part of European Union funded EuroPrevall project. Standardised baseline questionnaire data included details of food intake, nutritional supplement use, exposure to cigarette smoke during pregnancy and socio-demographic data. Pregnancy recommendations were collected from all nine countries from the appropriate national organisations. The most commonly taken supplement in pregnancy was folic acid (55.6 % Lithuania-97.8 % Spain) and was favoured by older, well-educated mothers. Vitamin D supplementation across the cohort was very poor (0.3 % Spain-5.1 % Lithuania). There were significant differences in foods consumed in different countries during pregnancy e.g. only 2.7 % Dutch mothers avoided eating peanut, while 44.4 % of British mothers avoided it. Some countries have minimal pregnancy recommendations i.e. Lithuania, Poland and Spain while others have similar, very specific recommendations i.e. UK, the Netherlands, Iceland, Greece. Allergy specific recommendations were associated with food avoidance during pregnancy [relative rate (RR) 1.18 95 % CI 0.02-1.37]. Nutritional supplement recommendations were also associated with avoidance (RR 1.08, 1.00-1.16). Maternal dietary habits and the use of dietary supplements during pregnancy vary significantly across Europe and in some instances may be influenced by national recommendations.