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Maternal fish consumption during pregnancy and BMI in children from birth up to age 14 years: the PIAMA cohort study

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to investigate the association between maternal fish consumption during pregnancy and BMI in children and the development of this association between birth and 14 years of age, taking into account relevant mother and child covariates.

Methods

The study population consisted of 3684 Dutch children born in 1996–1997 who participated in the PIAMA birth cohort study. Maternal fish consumption during pregnancy and the child’s body weight and height (up to 11 times) were reported by questionnaire. Generalized estimating equations were used to investigate whether BMI of children differed according to maternal fish consumption during pregnancy.

Results

The crude overall association between maternal fish consumption during pregnancy and BMI in children was non-significant (P = 0.17), but differed by the child’s age (P interaction = 0.03). Children of mothers who consumed fish ≥1×/week during pregnancy (n = 909) had statistically significant lower mean BMI z scores than children of mothers who never consumed fish (n = 1025) at the ages 4, 7, 8.5, and 11.5 years. Adjustment for maternal covariates (particularly pre-pregnancy BMI) attenuated the differences, which remained statistically significant at the age of 7 years only (mean difference in BMI z score: −0.14 95 % CI −0.25; −0.03). Additional adjustment for child covariates hardly affected the results.

Conclusions

In a population with relatively low fish consumption, higher fish consumption by pregnant women seems rather an indicator for more healthy maternal characteristics in general than a causal factor for the lower BMI in their children.

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Abbreviations

BMI:

Body mass index

PIAMA:

Prevention and Incidence of Asthma and Mite Allergy

DHA:

Docosahexaenoic acid

EPA:

Eicosapentaenoic acid

LCPUFA:

Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids

FFQ:

Food frequency questionnaire

GEE:

Generalized estimating equations

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Acknowledgments

Research relating to this manuscript was funded by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Sports. PIAMA was funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development; the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research; the Netherlands Asthma Fund; the Netherlands Ministry of Spatial Planning, Housing, and the Environment; the Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Sports; and the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM).

Conflict of interest

None of the authors had a conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Nutrition, Prevention and Health Services, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), P.O. Box 1, 3720 BA, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

    Saskia W. van den Berg, Alet H. Wijga & Jolanda M. A. Boer

  2. Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Lenie van Rossem & Henriette A. Smit

  3. Division Environmental Epidemiology (EEPI), Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Ulrike Gehring

  4. Department of Pediatric Pulmonology and Pediatric Allergology, Beatrix Children’s Hospital, University Medical Centre Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Gerard H. Koppelman

Authors
  1. Saskia W. van den Berg
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  2. Alet H. Wijga
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  3. Lenie van Rossem
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  4. Ulrike Gehring
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  5. Gerard H. Koppelman
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  6. Henriette A. Smit
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  7. Jolanda M. A. Boer
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Correspondence to Saskia W. van den Berg.

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van den Berg, S.W., Wijga, A.H., van Rossem, L. et al. Maternal fish consumption during pregnancy and BMI in children from birth up to age 14 years: the PIAMA cohort study. Eur J Nutr 55, 799–808 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-015-0901-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-015-0901-6

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