Peer-reviewed article
Maternal Consumption of Fruits, Vegetables and Fruit Juices in Relation to Offspring Weight at 4 Years.
Riggioni-Saborío L, Jardí C, Becerra-Tomás N, Cruz-Rodríguez J, Arija V ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined whether what mothers eat during pregnancy affects their children's weight at age 4. Researchers followed 252 mother-child pairs in Spain and found that mothers who ate more fruits and vegetables during pregnancy had children with lower rates of overweight and obesity. Interestingly, commercial fruit juice consumption during pregnancy was associated with higher rates of childhood overweight, but natural juice showed no effect. The findings suggest maternal diet during pregnancy may influence child weight development through both biological and family behavioral pathways.
Key points
- Higher maternal consumption of fruits and vegetables during pregnancy was associated with 69% lower odds of overweight/obesity in children at age 4 (OR: 0.31)
- Commercial fruit juice consumption during pregnancy was associated with 2.48 times higher odds of child overweight/obesity
- No associations were found between total or natural fruit juice consumption and childhood weight outcomes
- Dietary intake was measured at three timepoints during pregnancy (12, 24, and 36 weeks) using validated food frequency questionnaires
- The study was based on the Mediterranean ECLIPSES cohort, a prospective observational design
Limitations
As an observational study, this research cannot establish causation and cannot determine whether the associations reflect prenatal biological effects, postnatal family dietary patterns, or other unmeasured confounding factors. The commercial fruit juice finding is noted by the authors as exploratory and requires confirmation in larger studies.
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Maternal diet plays a crucial role in fetal development and may influence offspring weight development. Although fruits and vegetables provide nutritional and metabolic benefits during pregnancy, evidence regarding their specific role on childhood overweight/obesity remains limited. This study aimed to examine the association between maternal intake of fruits, vegetables, and fruit juices during pregnancy and the risk of overweight/obesity in children at 4 years of age. Methods: We analyzed 252 mother-child pairs from the Mediterranean ECLIPSES cohort in a prospective observational study. Maternal dietary intake was assessed at 12, 24 and 36 weeks of gestation using a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire previously validated in a Spanish population. Childhood overweight/obesity was defined as a BMI z-score above the 85th percentile for age and sex at age 4. Multivariable-adjusted logistic regression models estimated ORs and 95% CIs. Results: Higher maternal consumption of fruits and vegetables was inversely associated with overweight/obesity in children (OR: 0.31 [0.13-0.74]). No associations were observed for total or natural fruit juice, whereas higher consumption of commercial fruit juice was associated with increased odds of overweight/obesity (OR: 2.48 [1.06-5.78]). Conclusions: Higher maternal combined consumption of fruits and vegetables during pregnancy was associated with lower odds of overweight or obesity in offspring at 4 years of age, whereas the opposite association was observed for commercial, but not natural, fruit juice. These associations may involve both prenatal biological and postnatal behavioral and family dietary pathways; however, the commercial fruit juice finding should be considered exploratory and requires confirmation in larger prospective studies.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Maternal consumption of fruits, vegetables, and fruit juices during pregnancy
- Population
- 252 mother-child pairs from the Mediterranean ECLIPSES cohort in Spain
Key finding
Higher maternal consumption of fruits and vegetables associated with OR 0.31 (95% CI 0.13-0.74) for child overweight/obesity at age 4