Healthy Diet Decreases Risk of Anencephaly

In the TIME Magazine special, Top 10 of Everything 2011, the top 10 in parenting includes the results of some great new research.  Researchers from Stanford University reviewed the diets of nearly 10,000 mothers who delivered babies between 1997 and 2005, including over 3,000 babies born with neural tube defects (including anencephaly and spinal bifida) or oral-facial clefts (cleft lip or cleft palate).  The team found that women who consumed lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains were 50% less likely to have a baby with anencephaly (a fatal birth defect in which large portions of the brain and skull fail to develop).  Healthy diets were also associated with a nearly 20% reduction in babies with spina bifida and up to30% less chance of having a child with a oral-facial cleft.

While this is a single, retrospective study, the sample size is considerable and the results definitely worth investigating further.  Hopefully, more research teams will investigate the link between healthy diet and reducing your risk of these types of birth defects.

The implications are obvious--a healthy diet may reduce your chances of having a child with a birth defect, and in the chance of anencephaly, the chance of a neonatal death.  We already know a healthy diet can help control weight gain during pregnancy as well as maintaining optimum glucose control for women with diabetes.  Since obesity and diabetes are both associated with pregnancy loss, it seems obvious that any woman wanting to have a healthy, full-term pregnancy should start with her own health behaviors.

Diet is something completely under every individual's control, and making the right choices is something you can do for yourself if you're pregnant.  Even if you're not pregnant, but considering another pregnancy, improving your diet while you're "trying" can help reduce your chances of having a child with a major birth defect, if these study results prove true with further research.

For more information about these birth defects, and health choices during pregnancy, please see:
The Mediterranean Diet
What's the Big Deal with Folic Acid in Pregnancy?
Nutritional Tips During Pregnancy

_{Image courtesy of Francois Carstens}