Pro-inflammatory diet during pregnancy is associated with large-for-gestational-age infants

A pro-inflammatory diet in pregnant women is associated with an increased risk of harmful maternal and fetal health outcomes. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between the maternal energy-adjusted dietary inflammatory index (E-DII) and the classification of birth weight of newborns. We hypothesized that a maternal pro-inflammatory diet would be associated with a higher chance of inadequate birth weight infants. A prospective cohort study was conducted among 600 mother-infant pairs in Brazil. The E-DII was calculated through 24-hour dietary recalls on 2 occassions, using 36 of its 45 components. Secondary data on birth weight, sex of the newborns, and gestational age at birth were obtained. Adjusted logistic regression models were used to investigate the relationship between the maternal E-DII (in tertiles) and birth weight categories. The mothers’ mean (standard deviation [SD]) age was 27 (5) years, 32.2% were overweight, and 21.5% had prepregnancy obesity. In total, 62 (10.3%) cases of small-for-gestational-age newborns and 79 (13.2%) of large-for-gestational-age (LGA) newborns were identified. The mean (SD) of the E-DII was 1.6 (1.5), ranging from -2.6 to 6.0. In adjusted logistic regression models, it was found that women classified in the third tertile of the E-DII had higher odds of having LGA infants (odds ratio, 2.07 [95% confidence interval, 1.07-4.02], P =.03), when compared with the women classified in the first tertile. A maternal pro-inflammatory diet was associated with a higher chance of LGA infants, reinforcing the relevance of the consumption of foods naturally rich in antioxidants during pregnancy.