Fibre linked to lower risk of pre-eclampsia
Publication Date:17/07/2008
If you are pregnant or trying for a baby, you’re probably keen to eat a healthy diet so that your baby gets the best start in life. New research suggests there may be an additional reason to eat plenty of fruit, vegetables and wholegrain - it may help protect against pre-eclampsia.
What do we know already?
Pre-eclampsia is a condition some women get during pregnancy. The first sign is usually high blood pressure, but it can develop into a serious illness that's dangerous for women and babies. Pre-eclampsia happens because of a problem with the placenta, the organ that grows in the womb to provide nutrients for the baby from the mother’s blood.
We don’t really know what causes pre-eclampsia. We do know that women are more likely to get it if they have high blood pressure before getting pregnant, are overweight or are older than 40. Women are also more likely to get it during their first pregnancy.
Doctors sometimes recommend that, to prevent pre-eclampsia, women who are at risk should take aspirin or calcium supplements every day. Women with high blood pressure during pregnancy may be given drugs to lower their blood pressure.
Researchers are interested in finding out more about why some women get pre-eclampsia and not others. High blood pressure is often linked to people’s diet. There’s some evidence that eating plenty of fibre may help keep blood pressure low for people who aren’t pregnant, so researchers wanted to know whether fibre might also help pregnant women.
What does the new report say?
The study looked at more than 1,500 women in the first three months of pregnancy. They all filled in questionnaires about their diet during the previous three months. The study then followed the women to see what happened.
In total, 64 women (4 percent) got pre-eclampsia during their pregnancies. In the group of women who ate the most fibre, 3.6 percent got pre-eclampsia, compared with 6 percent of the women who ate the least fibre.
The women in the high fibre group were eating at least 21 grams of fibre a day. That's roughly the amount of fibre in eight slices of wholemeal bread.
Where does the report come from?
The study was carried out by researchers from the University of Washington, in the US. It was published in the American Journal of Hypertension, owned by Nature Publishing Group. It was funded by The National Institutes of Health, a US government organisation.
How reliable are the findings?
The problem with studies like this is that the amount of fibre women ate wasn't the only difference between them. Some of these other differences might have been more important to their chances of getting pre-eclampsia than diet. For example, women who ate more fibre might also have had more exercise. Exercise can reduce your risk of high blood pressure, so that might be the real reason why women who ate more fibre had less chance of getting pre-eclampsia.
The researchers tried to take some of these differences into account. For example, they adjusted the figures to take account of known risks for pre-eclampsia, like women’s ages, weight and whether they did exercise. But it’s hard to take account of everything that could have affected their results.
What does this mean for me?
The study doesn’t show for sure that eating more fibre will stop you from getting pre-eclampsia in pregnancy. But we know that a diet with plenty of fibre has lots of health benefits. For example, it may help keep the amount of cholesterol in your blood at a healthy level. Also, it can prevent constipation, which is often a problem for pregnant women.
What should I do now?
It’s a good idea to eat plenty of fibre, whether you're pregnant or not. Good sources of fibre include wholemeal bread, brown rice, lentils and beans, and fruit and vegetables. Whole pieces of fruit have more fibre than juice or smoothies.
If you're worried that you might be at risk of pre-eclampsia, talk to your doctor or midwife.
From:
Qiu C, Coughlin KB, Frederick IO, et al. Dietary fiber intake in early pregnancy and risk of subsequent preeclampsia. American Journal of Hypertension 2008.
To find out more, see our information on pre-eclampsia.
News Archive
© BMJ Publishing Group Limited ("BMJ Group") 2007. All rights reserved
This information does not replace medical advice. If you are concerned you might have a medical problem please ask your Boots pharmacy team in your local Boots store, or see your doctor.
