Low cholesterol diet improves blood flow in fetus

Consuming a low-cholesterol, low-fat diet during pregnancy seems to have a beneficial effect on blood flow in the fetus, Norwegian researchers report.

Dr. Tore Henriksen, of the University of Oslo, and colleagues used a special ultrasound test to examine how the type of diet consumed during pregnancy affects circulation in the fetus. The study included 290 nonsmoking, pregnant women, between 21 and 38 years of age.

As dietary cholesterol consumption dropped, the blood in the fetus appeared to flow more smoothly, according to the report in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Exactly how this occurs is unclear and requires further study, but the authors suggest that it may involve certain anti-inflammatory effects associated with a drop in LDL cholesterol, the "bad" cholesterol, in the mother.

SOURCE: American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, June 2007.