FRIDAY, Oct. 16, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Poorer maternal dietary quality is associated with infantile colic and eczema, according to a study published online Oct. 12 in JAMA Network Open.
Emily Oken, M.D., M.P.H., from Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute in Boston, and colleagues estimated associations of maternal diet quality and intakes of specific allergenic foods with infant eczema and colic in a prospective cohort of 2,128 mother-child pairs unselected for atopic risk. Food frequency questionnaires were administered in early and mid-pregnancy, and the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) and Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) were calculated.
Of 1,324 pairs with exposure and outcome data, 40.2 percent reported a history of atopy; 11.5, 20.6, and 4.6 percent of infants had eczema alone, colic alone, and both, respectively. The researchers found that greater mean MDS was associated with lower odds of colic and eczema (odds ratio, 0.85 per 1 point), while mean DII was associated with higher odds (odds ratio, 1.34 per 1 point) in models adjusted for maternal age, race, ethnicity, education, parity, smoking, and atopy. No association was seen for either diet score with eczema or colic alone. Lower odds of colic and eczema combined were seen in association with seafood intake (odds ratio, 0.75 per weekly serving), and nut intake was associated with higher odds of colic alone (odds ratio, 1.05 per weekly serving of nuts or peanuts), but not with colic and eczema combined.
"Our findings provide yet another reason to help pregnant women achieve a healthy, balanced diet, with a particular emphasis on eating seafood," Oken said in a statement.
Two authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry, one of whom holds patents.
