Study Finds Diet of Expectant Fathers During Pregnancy has Lasting Impact on Future Health of Unborn Kids

Diet of Expectant Fathers Expectant Fathers Expectant Mothers Pregnancy

By Joel Brussels , Parent Herald Apr 06, 07:30 am

Photo: (Photo : MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty Images)

A Queensland-based study suggests that the diet of expectant fathers during their partners' pregnancy has a lasting effect on the future health of their unborn kids. Almost 200 couples participated in the study, who were all recruited during pregnancy, according to a report by ABC.

They reported their eating habits to researchers, who found that women were more likely to meet the recommended daily dietary guidelines if their partners also met them. The couples recruited as part of the Queensland Family Cohort (QFC) received antenatal care at the Mater Hospital, Australia's largest maternity hospital based in Brisbane.

Vicki Clifton, Mater Research's QFC principal investigator, said that behaviors during the first 1,000 days of a child's life, starting from conception, were known to influence chronic disease in adulthood.

Healthy eating during pregnancy provides the unborn child with essential foundation

Clifton said that healthy eating during pregnancy provides an essential foundation for future good health for the unborn child. According to Clifton, many pregnant women are not meeting the recommended dietary guidelines in Australia.

News Medical reported that Clifton hopes the study will bring change, saying that the research suggests better education and support as partners could help improve the eating habits of expectant mothers. This will make the fetus healthier and lower the child's future risk of disease.

Shelley Wilkinson, the lead author of the latest diet-in-pregnancy research, said that the pilot study looked at whether the diet of an expectant father also impacted what his partner ate, thereby affecting their baby's wellbeing.

Wilkinson said that while it is known that education, income, and body mass index influence how women eat during their pregnancy, this study addresses the gap in knowledge on how the eating habits of their partners influence mothers-to-be.

Poor diet for males and females disappointing but not surprising

According to Wilkinson, the research found an association between what the partner ate and what the mothers consumed, which previous studies had not looked at.

According to the study, Wilkinson, an Associate Professor at the University of Queensland's School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, women who had a higher pre-pregnancy body mass index were far more likely to exceed the recommended ranges for maternal weight gain.

Only 41.4 percent of the women who participated in the study met the daily fruit intake recommendations compared to 31 percent of the men. About 28.4 percent of the expectant mothers were eating enough vegetables compared with 15 percent of the expectant fathers. Interestingly, less than one percent of women and 20 percent of their partners complied with the recommended intake of serves for cereals, grains, and bread.

Wilkinson said that the poor diet for both the males and the females in the study was disappointing but not a surprise because it reflected the broader population in Australia.