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Maternal nutrition, infants and children

Maternal milk consumption, birth size and adult height of offspring: a prospective cohort study with 20 years of follow-up

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 67, pages 1036–1041 (2013)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/objectives:

Previous studies have suggested that milk consumption during pregnancy may have growth-promoting effects on the offspring in utero. Whether this effect tracks beyond the prenatal period remains unclear. We examined whether milk consumption during pregnancy is associated with infant size at birth and offspring’s height- and growth-related biomarkers at ∼20 years of age.

Subject/methods:

A prospective cohort of 809 Danish pregnant women was recruited in 1988–1989, with offspring follow-up at ∼20 years of age (n=685). Milk consumption was assessed at gestational week 30 using a food frequency questionnaire. Birth weight and birth length were measured according to standard procedures at delivery and converted to specific z-scores, adjusted for gestational age and gender.

Results:

In adjusted models, maternal milk consumption of ⩾150 ml/day vs <150 ml/day was associated with 0.32 higher z-scores for birth weight (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.06; 0.58) and 0.34 higher z-scores for birth length (95% CI 0.04; 0.64). At follow up, ∼20 years later, those offspring whose mothers had consumed ⩾150 ml milk/day tended to have 0.19 higher z-scores for height (P=0.16), ∼8% higher levels of insulin-like growth factor I (P=0.12) and ∼14% higher insulin levels (P=0.11) compared with offspring whose mothers consumed <150 ml milk/day.

Conclusions:

Our findings add to recent observations that maternal milk consumption may have a growth-promoting effect with respect to weight and length at birth. Furthermore, the results provide some suggestion that this effect may even track into early adult age, although further studies with more statistical power are needed for that purpose.

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Acknowledgements

The present study was supported by the Danish Council for Strategic Research (Grant no.: 09-067124 (Centre for Fetal Programming), 2101-07-0025 (Danish Centre for Obesity Research) and 2101-06-0005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit for Nutrition Research, Landspitali University Hospital and Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

    L Hrolfsdottir, L Steingrimsdottir & T I Halldorsson

  2. Department of Public Health, Section for Epidemiology, Aarhus University, Denmark

    D Rytter & B Hammer Bech

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Aarhus University Hospital, Skejby, Denmark

    T Brink Henriksen

  4. Department of Epidemiology Research, Center for Fetal Programming, Statens Serum Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark

    I Danielsen, S F Olsen & T I Halldorsson

  5. Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    S F Olsen

Authors
  1. L Hrolfsdottir
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  2. D Rytter
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  3. B Hammer Bech
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  4. T Brink Henriksen
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  7. S F Olsen
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Correspondence to T I Halldorsson.

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Additional information

Contributors: The study sponsors were not involved in the study design; in the collection, analysis or interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the article for publication. SFO, together with colleagues, initiated the original pregnancy study, and he initiated the follow-up of the offspring. SFO, DR, BHB and TBH were responsible for collection of follow-up data. TIH and SFO designed the research question. L.H analyzed the data and wrote the first draft and had primary responsibility for the final content. All authors contributed to critical revision of the manuscript.

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Hrolfsdottir, L., Rytter, D., Hammer Bech, B. et al. Maternal milk consumption, birth size and adult height of offspring: a prospective cohort study with 20 years of follow-up. Eur J Clin Nutr 67, 1036–1041 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2013.151

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