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Maternal Pro-Inflammatory Diet Tied to Elevated Childhood Type 1 Diabetes Risk

Tracking over 67,000 Danish mother-child pairs for 17 years, the study uncovered a dose-dependent link that underscores the need for causal research to inform prenatal dietary guidelines.

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Hungry pregnant woman choosing from pizza, salad and eating pasta, having desire for junk food, sitting in kitchen.

Overview

  • Each one-unit increase in a maternal Empirical Dietary Inflammatory Index score corresponded to a 16% higher risk of offspring type 1 diabetes.
  • A 10-gram rise in daily maternal gluten intake during pregnancy was linked to a 36% increase in childhood type 1 diabetes risk.
  • Associations persisted regardless of the child’s sex or birth weight but were shaped independently by maternal gluten consumption and smoking.
  • Researchers analyzed data from the Danish National Birth Cohort covering pregnancies from 1996 to 2002 with follow-up until age 17.
  • Authors caution that the observational design cannot prove causality and call for further studies to guide potential updates to pregnancy nutrition advice.