Maternal Dietary Selenium Intake during Pregnancy and Neonatal Outcomes in the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 13; no. 4; p. 1239
• Main Authors: Modzelewska, Dominika, Solé-Navais, Pol, Brantsæter, Anne Lise, Flatley, Christopher, Elfvin, Anders, Meltzer, Helle Margrete, Sengpiel, Verena, Barman, Malin, Jacobsson, Bo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 09.04.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: and Child Cohort Study; Antioxidants; Biobanks; Birth weight; Births; Blood levels; Children & youth; Cohort analysis; Confidence intervals; Dietary intake; Dietary supplements; Father; Fetuses; Food; Food intake; Free radicals; Gestational age; Infant mortality; MBRN; Medical Birth Registry of Norway; Medical research; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; MoBa; Morbidity; Mortality; Mothers; Neonatal outcome; Neonates; Norwegian Mother; Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study; Nutrients; Nutrition; Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine; Oxidative stress; Population; Pregnancy; Public health; Questionnaires; Reproduktionsmedicin och gynekologi; Risk management; Risk reduction; Selenium; Small for gestational age; Womens health; Norway; Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study; Medical Birth Registry of Norway; selenium; small for gestational age; MBRN; MoBa; pregnancy; neonatal outcome
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu13041239

Properly working antioxidant defence systems are important for fetal development. One of the nutrients with antioxidant activity is selenium. Increased maternal selenium intake has been associated with reduced risk for being small for gestational age and preterm delivery. Based on the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study and the Medical Birth Registry of Norway, we investigated the association of maternal selenium intake from food and dietary supplements during the first half of pregnancy ( = 71,728 women) and selenium status in mid-pregnancy ( = 2628 women) with neonatal health, measured as two composite variables (neonatal morbidity/mortality and neonatal intervention). Low maternal dietary selenium intake (<30 µg/day) was associated with increased risk for neonatal morbidity/mortality (adjusted odds ratio (adjOR) 1.36, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.08-1.69) and neonatal intervention (adjOR 1.16, 95% CI 1.01-1.34). Using continuous variables, there were no associations between maternal selenium intake (from diet or supplements) or whole-blood selenium concentration and neonatal outcome in the adjusted models. Our findings suggest that sufficient maternal dietary selenium intake is associated with neonatal outcome. Adhering to the dietary recommendations may help ensure an adequate supply of selenium for a healthy pregnancy and optimal fetal development.