Dietary factors and risk of spontaneous abortion

Objective: This study examines the association between dietary habits and risk of spontaneous abortion. Design: Hospital-based case-control study. Setting: Obstetric hospitals in Milan, Italy. Subjects: Cases were: 912 women admitted for spontaneous abortion (within the 12th week of gestation). Controls were: women who gave birth at term to healthy infants on randomly selected days at the same hospitals where cases had been identified. Results: The risk of spontaneous abortion was inversely and significantly related to green vegetables, fruit, milk, cheese, eggs and fish consumption. The multivariate odds ratios (OR), for highest versus lowest levels of intake, were 0.3 for fruit, 0.5 for cheese, 0.6 for green vegetables and milk and 0.7 for fish and eggs. The major type of seasoning fats have showed a direct association with risk of miscarriage. Comparing the highest with the lowest intake, the ORs were 2.0 (95% confidence interval, CI 1.1–3.6) and 1.6 (95% CI 1.1–2.3) for butter and oil, respectively. No consistent association emerged between meat, liver, ham and carrots intake and the risk of spontaneous abortion. Conclusions: This result suggests that a diet poor in several aspects, including vegetables and fruit, milk and dairy products, but rich in fats, may be a determinant or a correlate of increased risk of spontaneous abortion.