By Dr. Priyom Bose, Ph.D.Reviewed by Benedette Cuffari, M.Sc.Jul 3 2024 A recent Nature Food journal study utilized data from a racially and ethnically diverse cohort in the United States to determine whether adherence to healthy dietary patterns increases the risk of exposure to potentially harmful environmental contaminants during pregnancy.
However, major food components of aHEI, aMED, and DASH are also sources of environmental contaminants such as heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls , and per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances . These chemicals can be harmful to fetuses and pregnant women who are sensitive to environmental stimuli. Eighty-eight of 97 chemicals with detection rates above 1% were studied. Multivariate linear regression models were estimated to assess the associations. Several robustness analyses were also conducted to ensure the validity of the findings.
Variations in plasma chemical concentrations were primarily attributed to the consumption of different food groups and nutrients, with fish and eicosapentaenoic acid + docosahexaenoic acid the highest loading factors for all chemicals. As compared to other racial groups, Asian and Pacific Islanders were more affected by the associations of healthy dietary pattern scores with chemical exposure.
Presenting the results in the context of published literature, only one previous study assessed similar associations between dietary patterns and chemical concentrations using umbilical cord blood. Previous studies on non-pregnant individuals have documented inconsistent associations; however, many of these studies included small sample sizes and did not consider food, diet, and nutrient variations.