Copyright © 2004 by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
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Association of Fish and Fish Liver Oil Intake in Pregnancy with Infant Size at Birth among Women of Normal Weight before Pregnancy in a Fishing Community
1 Unit for Nutrition Research, Landspitali University Hospital and Department of Food Science, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Landspitali University Hospital, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
This 1998 study investigated the association between intake of fish and fish oil during pregnancy and full-term infants’ size at birth in an Icelandic fishing community. Healthy women aged 20–40 years of normal weight before pregnancy (body mass index: 19.5–25.5 kg/m2) and at 38–43 weeks of gestation were selected randomly. Information on infant size at birth was collected from maternity records. Intake of fish and fish oil in pregnancy was ascertained (n = 491, 80.1%) by using a validated, focused, food frequency questionnaire. Infants of women in the lowest quartile of fish consumption weighed less (p = 0.036), were shorter (p < 0.001), and had a smaller head circumference (p < 0.001) at birth than those of women consuming higher amounts of fish. Infants of women in the highest quartile of fish oil intake (
1 tablespoon (11 ml)/day), consuming threefold the recommended dietary allowance of vitamin A and twofold that of vitamin D, were shorter (p = 0.036) and had a smaller head circumference (p = 0.003) than those of women consuming less. Infant size at birth increased with fish consumption, especially for women in the lower quartiles of consumption. Smaller birth size was linked to the highest levels of fish oil intake. Constituents of fish and fish oil might affect birth size differently depending on the amount consumed.
birth weight; body constitution; dietary supplements; fish oils; fishes; infant; nutrition; pregnancy
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