Review from JAMA — Birth Weight and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes — A Systematic Review

Objective To examine whether an association exists between maternal dietary patterns and risk of preterm delivery. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Norway, between 2002 and 2008. Participants 66 000 pregnant women (singletons, answered food frequency questionnaire, no missing information about parity or previously preterm delivery, pregnancy duration between 22+0 and 41+6 gestational weeks, no diabetes, first enrolment pregnancy). Main outcome measure Hazard ratio for preterm delivery according to level of adherence to three distinct dietary patterns interpreted as “prudent” (for example, vegetables, fruits, oils, water as beverage, whole grain cereals, fibre rich bread), “Western” (salty and sweet snacks, white bread, desserts, processed meat products), and “traditional” (potatoes, fish). Results After adjustment for covariates, high scores on the “prudent” pattern were associated with significantly reduced risk of preterm delivery hazard ratio for the highest versus the lowest third (0.88, 95% confidence interval 0.80 to 0.97). The prudent pattern was also associated with a significantly lower risk of late and spontaneous preterm delivery. No independent association with preterm delivery was found for the “Western” pattern. The “traditional” pattern was associated with reduced risk of preterm delivery for the highest versus the lowest third (hazard ratio 0.91, 0.83 to 0.99). Conclusion This study showed that women adhering to a “prudent” or a “traditional” dietary pattern during pregnancy were at lower risk of preterm delivery compared with other women. Although these findings cannot establish causality, they support dietary advice to pregnant women to eat a balanced diet including vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and fish and to drink water. Our results indicate that increasing the intake of foods associated with a prudent dietary pattern is more important than totally excluding processed food, fast food, junk food, and snacks.

To investigate the relation between gestational weight gain in women of normal prepregnant weight and complications during pregnancy and delivery in a population with high gestational weight gain and birth weight. Healthy women (n = 615) of normal weight before pregnancy (body mass index 19.5-25.5 kg/m(2)) were randomly selected. Maternity records gave information on age, height, prepregnant weight, gestational weight gain, parity, smoking, gestational hypertension and diabetes, preeclampsia, delivery complications, and infants' birth size and health. The mean weight gain in pregnancy was 16.8 +/- 4.9 kg (mean +/- standard deviation). A total of 26.4% of the women had complications, either in pregnancy (9.1%) or delivery (17.3%). Women gaining weight according to the recommendation of the Institute of Medicine (11.5-16.0 kg) had lower frequency of pregnancy-delivery complications than women gaining more than 20.0 kg (P =.017), but did not differ significantly from those gaining 16-20 kg (P >.05). When dividing weight gain in pregnancy into quintiles, a relative risk of 2.69 (95% confidence interval 1.01, 7.18, P =.048) was found for complications in pregnancy in the fourth quintile (17.9-20.8 kg), using the second quintile as reference (12.5-15.5 kg). The mean birth weight was 3778 +/- 496 g. A low weight gain in pregnancy (less than 11.5 kg) was associated with an increased frequency of infants weighing less than 3500 g at birth (P <.01). A gestational weight gain of 11.5-16.0 kg (Institute of Medicine recommendation) for women of normal prepregnant weight is related to the lowest risk for pregnancy-delivery complications. In the population studied, the upper limit might be higher (up to 18 kg), and low weight gain should be avoided to optimize birth outcome.

“The Nordic diet” is an umbrella term that encompasses any interpretation that combines Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDGs) with local Nordic foods. The five Nordic countries have collaborated on Nordic Nutrition Recommendations for forty years, including FBDGs, so their national guidelines are similar. The countries also share similar public health issues, including widespread nonconformity to the guidelines, although in different ways. The aim of this concept paper is to discuss environmental sustainability aspects of the Nordic diet, describe the status of and make suggestions for the inclusion of sustainability in future work on the Nordic diet. We exploit the sustainability–health synergy. A food intake more in line with the current FBDGs, which emphasises more plant-based and less animal-based foods, is necessary for high environmental sustainability. In turn, sustainability is an important motivator for health-promoting dietary shifts. Policy development requires long-term efforts. Since the Nordic diet can be considered a further development and improvement of old, traditional diets, there is huge potential to formulate a Nordic diet that benefits both human and planetary health. It is time for concerted engagement and actions—a new Nordic nutrition transition.