ArticleBMJ open2017
Does the impact of a plant-based diet during pregnancy on birth weight differ by ethnicity? A dietary pattern analysis from a prospective Canadian birth cohort alliance.
Article in BMJ open, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Associations between Maternal Dietary Patterns and Perinatal Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2021Pooled it
- The Association of Maternal Dietary Patterns With Asthma and Wheeze Diagnosis in Canadian Children.Nutrition bulletin · 2026Article
- Maternal Nutrition During Pregnancy and Fetal Outcome, Short- and Long-Term Health Effects: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Determinants of low birth weight babies delivered at paropakar maternity and Women's hospital: A case-control study.PloS one · 2026Article
- Diet in Pregnancy: A Review of Current Challenges and Recommendations. A British Nutrition Foundation Briefing Paper.Nutrition bulletin · 2025Review
- Article
- Trajectory of Early Life Adiposity Among South Asian Children.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Pre-Pregnancy Provegetarian Food Pattern and the Risk of Developing Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: The Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) Cohort Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Article
- Maternal dietary patterns during pregnancy and birth weight: a prospective cohort study.Nutrition journal · 2024Article
- Association of plant-based dietary patterns in first trimester of pregnancy with gestational weight gain: results from a prospective birth cohort.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2023Article
- The impact of regional origin on the incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus in a multiethnic European cohort.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Maternal Diet Quality and the Health Status of Newborns.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Maternal hemoglobin and risk of low birth weight: A hospital-based cross-sectional study in Nepal.Heliyon · 2022Article
- Unique Metabolic Profiles Associate with Gestational Diabetes and Ethnicity in Low- and High-Risk Women Living in the UK.The Journal of nutrition · 2022Article
- Ethnic-specific associations between dietary consumption and gestational diabetes mellitus incidence: A meta-analysis.PLOS global public health · 2022Article
- The Safe and Effective Use of Plant-Based Diets with Guidelines for Health Professionals.Nutrients · 2021Review
- Indicators and Recommendations for Assessing Sustainable Healthy Diets.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- The impact of a vegan diet on pregnancy outcomes.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2021Observational
- The Impact of a Plant-Based Diet on Gestational Diabetes: A Review.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Low birth weight trends in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, 2000-2015: economic, health system and demographic conditionings.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
20 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveBirth weight is an indicator of newborn health and a strong predictor of health outcomes in later life. Significant variation in diet during pregnancy between ethnic groups in high-income countries provides an ideal opportunity to investigate the influence of maternal diet on birth weight.
settingFour multiethnic birth cohorts based in Canada (the NutriGen Alliance).
participants3997 full-term mother-infant pairs of diverse ethnic groups who had principal component analysis-derived diet pattern scores-plant-based, Western and health-conscious-and birth weight data.
resultsNo associations were identified between the Western and health-conscious diet patterns and birth weight; however, the plant-based dietary pattern was inversely associated with birth weight (β=-67.6 g per 1-unit increase; P<0.001), and an interaction with non-white ethnicity and birth weight was observed. Ethnically stratified analyses demonstrated that among white Europeans, maternal consumption of a plant-based diet associated with lower birth weight (β=-65.9 g per 1-unit increase; P<0.001), increased risk of small-for-gestational age (SGA; OR=1.46; 95% CI 1.08 to 1.54;P=0.005) and reduced risk of large-for-gestational age (LGA; OR=0.71; 95% CI 0.53 to 0.95;P=0.02). Among South Asians, maternal consumption of a plant-based diet associated with a higher birth weight (β=+40.5 g per 1-unit increase; P=0.01), partially explained by cooked vegetable consumption.
conclusionsMaternal consumption of a plant-based diet during pregnancy is associated with birth weight. Among white Europeans, a plant-based diet is associated with lower birth weight, reduced odds of an infant born LGA and increased odds of SGA, whereas among South Asians living in Canada, a plant-based diet is associated with increased birth weight.
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