Impact of Maternal Organic Food Consumption and Diet Quality During Pregnancy on Offspring's Risk of Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Findings from A Danish National Birth Cohort Study

Olivia Mariella Anneberg¹Sjurdur Frodi Olsen²Anne Vinkel Hansen¹Anne Ahrendt Bjerregaard³Þórhallur Ingi Halldórsson⁴Tine Jess¹Maiara Brusco De Freitas^1*

• ¹Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
• ²Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
• ³Frederiksberg Hospital Center for Klinisk Forskning og Forebyggelse, Frederiksberg, Denmark
• ⁴Haskoli Islands, Reykjavk, Iceland

Background: This study explores associations of maternal organic food consumption and diet quality during pregnancy with pediatric-onset inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) risk in offspring, including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC).Methods: Pregnant mothers and their offspring were enrolled in the Danish National Birth Cohort, a nationwide prospective cohort study, in 1996-2002. In gestational week 30, telephone interviews assessed overall maternal organic food consumption during pregnancy. In gestational week 25, a food frequency questionnaire assessed maternal diet during the previous four weeks, including six different organic food types (eggs, dairy, meat, fruit, vegetables, and cereals). A Healthy Eating Index evaluated maternal diet quality based on adherence to Danish official dietary guidelines. Offspring with pediatric-onset IBD (≤18 years) were identified in national patient registries. Cox regression explored associations of maternal organic food consumption and diet quality during pregnancy with offspring's risk of pediatric-onset IBD, CD, and UC.The study included 60,274 singleton mother-child pairs, of which 168 children developed pediatric-onset IBD. Frequent maternal organic food consumption during pregnancy was not significantly associated with offspring's IBD risk (HR: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.33-1.19). However, frequent organic food consumption during pregnancy, particularly organic eggs and dairy, lowered offspring's risk of CD (HR: 0.40; 95% CI: 0.17-0.94), but not UC (HR: 1.11; 95% CI: 0.41-3.00). Maternal diet quality during pregnancy was not significantly associated with offspring's risk of IBD (HR: 0.99; 95% CI: 0.97-1.01), CD, and UC.In this large prospective cohort study, we show that maternal organic food consumption, particularly eggs and dairy, during pregnancy may lower offspring's risk of pediatriconset CD, but not UC.