(P13-024-24) Antenatal and Pubescent Diet Is Associated With Lung Function in a Trial Birth Cohort in Rural Nepal

Sunday, June 30, 2024

11:45 AM – 12:45 PM CT

Location: Poster Board 413

Presenting Author(s)

VG

Vanessa Garcia-Larsen, PhD

Associate Professor
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Co-Author(s)

SK

Subarna K. Kathry

Center for Human Nutrition, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Maryland, United States
SL

Steven C. LeClerq

Center for Human Nutrition, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Maryland, United States
JK

Joanne Katz, Sc.D.

Professor
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Baltimore,, Maryland, United States
LW

Lee S. Wu, MHS

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
MB

Matthew R. Baldwin

Columbia University Medical Center, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care, New York, United States
PC

Parul Christian, PhD, MSc

Professor
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
WC

William Checkley, MD, PhD

Johns Hopkins University, United States
KW

Keith P. West, DrPH, MPH (he/him/his)

George G. Graham Professor of Infant and Child Nutrition
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Disclosure(s):

Keith P. West, DrPH, MPH: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Objectives: Diet can affect lung health. We examined associations of maternal and current child intakes of vegetables and fruits with pubescent lung function in a birth cohort in Nepal.

Methods: Spirometry was conducted at 10-13 y of age in children born to a subset of mothers who participated during pregnancy in a cluster-randomized weekly supplement trial of 7000 µg retinol equivalents as vitamin A (n=374) or β-carotene (n=377) vs placebo (n=319), measuring expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV₁), forced vital capacity (FVC) and FEV₁/FVC. Questions were also asked about children’s health, including asthma symptoms. Mid-pregnancy maternal and child diets were assessed by a 7-day food frequency instrument, dichotomized to any vs none consumed for this analysis, and assessed with respect to respiratory outcomes. We employed linear mixed-effects models with random effects to account for design effect. Potential confounders included child age, sex, height and body mass index, maternal SES, smoking history and original trial supplement arm. Simes’ procedure was used to adjust for multiple comparisons.

Results: Antenatal intakes of dark green leaves (adjusted [a]β 0.05; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.02, 0.08), ripe pumpkin (aβ 0.11; 95% CI 0.01, 021), corn bhat/dhirdo (aβ 0.06; 95% CI 0.02, 0.10), roasted/popped corn (aβ 0.05; 95% CI 0.02, 0.08), and ripe papaya (aβ 0.07; 95% CI 0.04, 0.10) were associated with higher FVC in children but not wheezing. Maternal intakes of gourd, okra and ripe papaya were associated with lower odds ratios of childhood wheeze. However, antenatal intake of any vegetables was associated with higher FVC. Childhood intakes of dried dark green leafy vegetables (aβ 0.04; 95% CI 0.02, 0.07), bitters (aβ 0.01; 95% CI 0.004, 0.02), lima beans (aβ 0.01; 95% CI 0.001, 0.02), drumstick leaves (aβ 0.01; 95% CI 0.001, 0.02), and pineapple (aβ 0.03; 95% CI 0.01, 0.05) were associated with higher childhood FVC. Most associations remained significant after adjusting for multiple comparisons. There was no evidence of effect modification by supplementation arm.

Conclusions: Antenatal and childhood intake of several traditional vegetables and fruits were associated with better pubescent ventilatory function, emphasizing value of a diversified diet to preserve lung health.

Funding Sources: USAID, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation