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Heartburn and Regurgitation in Pregnancy: The Effect of Fat Ingestion

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Abstract

Background

Reflux symptoms are common in pregnancy, but their association with fat ingestion is unclear.

Aim

To investigate an association of dietary fats with heartburn and regurgitation in pregnancy.

Methods

This is a prospective study in which 89 pregnant women (gestational age 34 ± 4 weeks) attending a low-risk prenatal outpatient clinic were asked to provide information on the frequency they experienced heartburn and regurgitation. Fat ingestion was estimated by means of a 24-h diet record. Symptomatic patients were compared with those with no reflux symptoms (n = 20).

Results

Heartburn once a week or more often occurred in 56 of the 89 patients (63%). The ingested amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids was higher in patients with heartburn (11.2 ± 6.4 vs. 7.7 ± 3.5 mg; P = 0.022) than in controls after adjusting for age, gain weight during pregnancy, ingestion of caffeine and vitamin C, and total energetic intake. The ingestion of monounsaturated fatty acids was higher in patients with heartburn, but with a borderline statistical significance (16.1 ± 11 vs. 11.8 ± 6.5 mg; P = 0.061). No association was observed between the consumption of fats and regurgitation.

Conclusions

This study suggests that heartburn in the third trimester of pregnancy is associated with the ingestion of polyunsaturated fatty acids.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), and Fundo de Incentivo à Pesquisa e Eventos (FIPE)/Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Brazil.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Post-Graduate Program, Sciences in Gastroenterology, School of Medicine and Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Rua Ramiro Barcelos, 2400, 2º andar, Porto Alegre, RS, 90035-001, Brazil

    Valesca Dall’Alba, Fernando Fornari & Sérgio Gabriel Silva de Barros

  2. School of Medicine, Universidade de Passo Fundo, Passo Fundo, RS, Brazil

    Fernando Fornari

  3. Department of Gynecology, School of Medicine, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUC-RS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

    Cláudio Krahe

  4. Department of Statistics and Post-Graduate Program in Genetics and Molecular Biology, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

    Sidia Maria Callegari-Jacques

Authors
  1. Valesca Dall’Alba
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  2. Fernando Fornari
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  3. Cláudio Krahe
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  4. Sidia Maria Callegari-Jacques
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  5. Sérgio Gabriel Silva de Barros
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fernando Fornari.

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Dall’Alba, V., Fornari, F., Krahe, C. et al. Heartburn and Regurgitation in Pregnancy: The Effect of Fat Ingestion. Dig Dis Sci 55, 1610–1614 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-009-0932-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-009-0932-z

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