Reduced risk of pre-eclampsia with organic vegetable consumption: results from the prospective Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study

TY - JOUR

T1 - Reduced risk of pre-eclampsia with organic vegetable consumption

T2 - results from the prospective Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study

AU - Torjusen, Hanne

AU - Brantsæter, Anne Lise

AU - Haugen, Margaretha

AU - Alexander, Jan

AU - Bakketeig, Leiv S

AU - Lieblein, Geir

AU - Stigum, Hein

AU - Næs, Tormod

AU - Swartz, Jackie

AU - Holmboe-Ottesen, Gerd

AU - Roos, Gun

AU - Meltzer, Helle Margrete

N1 - OA

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - Objective: Little is known about the potential health effects of eating organic food either in the general population or during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to examine associations between organic food consumption during pregnancy and the risk of preeclampsia among nulliparous Norwegian women. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Norway, years 2002-2008. Participants: 28 192 pregnant women (nulliparous, answered food frequency questionnaire and general health questionnaire in mid-pregnancy and no missing information on height, body weight or gestational weight gain). Main outcome measure: Relative risk was estimated as ORs by performing binary logistic regression with pre-eclampsia as the outcome and organic food consumption as the exposure. Results: The prevalence of pre-eclampsia in the study sample was 5.3% (n=1491). Women who reported to have eaten organic vegetables 'often' or 'mostly' (n=2493, 8.8%) had lower risk of pre-eclampsia than those who reported 'never/rarely' or 'sometimes' (crude OR=0.76, 95% CI 0.61 to 0.96; adjusted OR=0.79, 95% CI 0.62 to 0.99). The lower risk associated with high organic vegetable consumption was evident also when adjusting for overall dietary quality, assessed as scores on a healthy food pattern derived by principal component analysis. No associations with pre-eclampsia were found for high intake of organic fruit, cereals, eggs or milk, or a combined index reflecting organic consumption. Conclusions: These results show that choosing organically grown vegetables during pregnancy was associated with reduced risk of pre-eclampsia. Possible explanations for an association between pre-eclampsia and use of organic vegetables could be that organic vegetables may change the exposure to pesticides, secondary plant metabolites and/or influence the composition of the gut microbiota.

AB - Objective: Little is known about the potential health effects of eating organic food either in the general population or during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to examine associations between organic food consumption during pregnancy and the risk of preeclampsia among nulliparous Norwegian women. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Norway, years 2002-2008. Participants: 28 192 pregnant women (nulliparous, answered food frequency questionnaire and general health questionnaire in mid-pregnancy and no missing information on height, body weight or gestational weight gain). Main outcome measure: Relative risk was estimated as ORs by performing binary logistic regression with pre-eclampsia as the outcome and organic food consumption as the exposure. Results: The prevalence of pre-eclampsia in the study sample was 5.3% (n=1491). Women who reported to have eaten organic vegetables 'often' or 'mostly' (n=2493, 8.8%) had lower risk of pre-eclampsia than those who reported 'never/rarely' or 'sometimes' (crude OR=0.76, 95% CI 0.61 to 0.96; adjusted OR=0.79, 95% CI 0.62 to 0.99). The lower risk associated with high organic vegetable consumption was evident also when adjusting for overall dietary quality, assessed as scores on a healthy food pattern derived by principal component analysis. No associations with pre-eclampsia were found for high intake of organic fruit, cereals, eggs or milk, or a combined index reflecting organic consumption. Conclusions: These results show that choosing organically grown vegetables during pregnancy was associated with reduced risk of pre-eclampsia. Possible explanations for an association between pre-eclampsia and use of organic vegetables could be that organic vegetables may change the exposure to pesticides, secondary plant metabolites and/or influence the composition of the gut microbiota.

U2 - 10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006143

DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006143

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 25208850

SN - 2044-6055

VL - 4

JO - BMJ Open

JF - BMJ Open

M1 - e006143

ER -