Van Ewijk et al. respond to "Ramadan prenatal fasting and adult health outcomes"

• Published in: American journal of epidemiology Vol. 177; no. 8; pp. 741 - 742
• Main Authors: van Ewijk, Reyn J G, Painter, Rebecca C, Roseboom, Tessa J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Oxford Publishing Limited (England) 15.04.2013
• Subjects: Body Height; Body mass index; Fasting; Fasting - adverse effects; Female; Humans; Islam; Muslims; Nutrition; Pregnancy; Ramadan; Thinness - epidemiology; Thinness - etiology
• ISSN: 0002-9262; 1476-6256
• DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwt022

Ewijk et al comments on Susser and Ananth's criticism on their study, Ramadan Prenatal Fasting and Adult Health Outcomes, which highlights the importance of the novel line of research into the associations of prenatal exposure to Ramadan with offspring health. Susser and Ananth argue that Ewijk et al's findings are relevant only for the Muslim population and cannot be extrapolated to other situations of nutritional restrictions. Ewijk et al agree that there are many aspects of Ramadan that might cause the associations, including interference with nocturnal sleep, dehydration, stress, and glucose fluctuations. Nevertheless, they cannot rule out that some processes occurring during Ramadan are similar to those occurring during other situations in which food intake is (temporarily) reduced. Evidence of accelerated starvation has been reported among women who fast during Ramadan. They contends that their findings of lower body mass indices among people who had been exposed to Ramadan prenatally are similar to findings of studies investigating associations of prenatal famine exposure in other developing countries.