Maternal diet in pregnancy and offspring height, sitting height, and leg length.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the association between maternal diet in pregnancy and offspring height, sitting height, and leg length.


METHODS
Cohort study.


METHODS
South west England.


METHODS
6663 singletons (51% male) enrolled in the Avon longitudinal study of parents and children, with information on their mother's diet in late pregnancy (obtained by food frequency questionnaire) and their own height recorded at age 7.5 years.


RESULTS
Before adjustment, maternal magnesium, iron, and vitamin C were the nutrients most consistently associated with offspring height and its components. However, adjusting for potential confounders weakened all relations considerably. For example, a standard deviation (SD) increase in magnesium intake was associated with a 0.10 (-0.07, 0.14) SD unit increase in height before adjustment, which was reduced to 0.05 (0.01, 0.08) SD units after adjustment, and a SD unit increase in iron intake was associated with 0.08 (0.05, 0.12) and 0.04 (0.01, 0.08) SD unit increases in height before and after adjustment respectively. No other dietary variables were associated with height or its components after adjustment.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings do not provide evidence that maternal diet in pregnancy has an important influence on offspring height, sitting height, or leg length in well nourished populations, although effects may emerge as offspring become older.
Leary
Sam
S
Unit of Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, Department of Community-based Medicine, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK. s.d.leary@bristol.ac.uk
Ness
Andy
A
Emmett
Pauline
P
Davey Smith
George
G
D000886:Anthropometry; D001827:Body Height; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D004032:Diet; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019266:Iron, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage; D007866:Leg / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008274:Magnesium / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects
D019266:Iron, Dietary; D008274:Magnesium