Meat and meat products intake in pregnancy and risk of small for gestational age infants. A case-control study

Introduction: different diets during pregnancy might have an impact on the health as reflected by the birth weight of the newborn. The consumption of meat and meat products during pregnancy and its relationship with the newborn health status have been studied by several authors. The studies carried out show inconsistent results. Objective: to analyse the association between maternal dietary intake of meat and meat products and the risk of small for gestational age (SGA) newborn. Methods: a matched case-control study of 518 cases and controls of pregnant women was performed in Spain. Cases were women with a SGA newborn. Data about demographic characteristics and diet were collected. Meat consumption was gathered through a validated food frequency questionnaire. Meat and meat products intakes were categorized in quintiles (Q1-Q5).The association between maternal meat and meat product intakes and SGA was assessed by logistic regression models with adjustment for confounding factors. Results: an intake of meat products above 6.8 g/day was associated with a lower risk of SGA delivery (OR = 0.7; 95% CI, 0.53-0.93) after adjusting for smoking, body mass index, previous preterm-low birth weight, newborn gender and adherence to Mediterranean diet. Conclusions: meat consumption was not associated with SGA, whereas meat products showed a moderate protective relationship.