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2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Systematic Reviews

Pregnancy and Lactation Subcommittee

  • Pregnancy and Lactation Subcommittee

    • Sharon Donovan, PhD, RD, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Subcommittee Chair
    • Kathryn Dewey, PhD, University of California, Davis
    • Rachel Novotny, PhD, RDN, LD, University of Hawaii
    • Jamie Stang, PhD, MPH, RD, University of Minnesota
    • Elsie Taveras, MD, MPH, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
    • Ronald Kleinman, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Vice-Chair of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee

    Nutrition Evidence Systematic Review (NESR) Team

    • Ramkripa Raghavan, DrPH, MPH, MSc, Analyst, Panum Group  
    • Maureen Spill, PhD, Analyst, Panum Group
    • Julie Nevins, PhD, Analyst, Panum Group
    • Sara Scinto-Madonich, MS, Analyst, Panum Group
    • Julia H. Kim, PhD, MPH, RD, Analyst, Panum Group
    • Nancy Terry, MS, MLS, Biomedical Librarian, National Institutes of Health (NIH) Library, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 
    • Gisela Butera, MLIS, MEd, Systematic Review Librarian, Panum Group
    • Julie Obbagy, PhD, RD, Project Lead, Office of Nutrition Guidance and Analysis (ONGA), Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

    Federal Liaisons

    • Jean Altman, MS, ONGA, CNPP, FNS, USDA
    • Meghan Adler, MS, RDN, ONGA, CNPP, FNS, USDA
    • Jenna Fahle, MSPH, RDN, ONGA, CNPP, FNS, USDA (08/2019-11/2019)

    Project Leadership

    • Eve Essery Stoody, PhD, Designated Federal Officer and Director, ONGA, CNPP, FNS, USDA
    • Janet de Jesus, MS, RD, Nutrition Advisor, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, HHS

    The Committee and NESR staff thank the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service for coordinating the peer review of this systematic review, and the Federal scientist peer reviewers for their time and expertise. For a list of the peer reviewers, see the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Systematic Reviews Page.

Overview

The Pregnancy and Lactation Subcommittee conducted systematic reviews to answer 7 questions that examined the relationship between diet during pregnancy and lactation and health outcomes: 

  1. What is the relationship between dietary patterns consumed during pregnancy and gestational weight gain?
  2. What is the relationship between dietary patterns consumed during lactation and postpartum weight loss?
  3. What is the relationship between dietary patterns consumed during lactation and human milk composition and quantity?
  4. What is the relationship between dietary patterns consumed during lactation and developmental milestones, including neurocognitive development, in the child?
  5. What is the relationship between folic acid from supplements and/or fortified foods consumed before and during pregnancy and lactation and health outcomes?
  6. What is the relationship between omega-3 fatty acids from supplements consumed before and during pregnancy and lactation and developmental milestones, including neurocognitive development, in the child?
  7. What is the relationship between maternal diet during pregnancy and lactation and risk of child food allergies and atopic allergic diseases?

These reviews can be accessed below, and are discussed in the Scientific Report of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, Part D: Chapters 2 and 3, which are available at
DietaryGuidelines.gov.

The Pregnancy and Lactation Subcommittee also answered 4 questions using existing NESR reviews:

  1. What is the relationship between dietary patterns consumed during pregnancy and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus?
  2. What is the relationship between dietary patterns consumed during pregnancy and risk of hypertensive disorders during pregnancy?
  3. What is the relationship between dietary patterns consumed during pregnancy and gestational age at birth?
  4. What is the relationship between dietary patterns consumed during pregnancy and birth weight standardized for gestational age and sex?

These reviews can be accessed from the webpage of the Pregnancy and Birth to 24 Months Project, and are discussed in the Scientific Report of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, Part D: Chapter 2, which is available at DietaryGuidelines.gov.

For information on all systematic reviews conducted by the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee with support from NESR, including details about NESR’s systematic review methodology, see the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Systematic Reviews Page.

Every systematic review contains a summary, description, and synthesis of the evidence, data and risk of bias tables, graded conclusion statements, and research recommendations. The systematic review also details the protocol used in conducting the systematic review, including the analytic framework, inclusion and exclusion criteria, literature search strategy, search and screening results, and lists of included and excluded articles. In addition, both a technical abstract and plain language summary are provided for each of the systematic reviews.

Systematic Review Questions

What is the relationship between dietary patterns consumed during pregnancy and gestational weight gain?

What is the relationship between dietary patterns consumed during lactation and postpartum weight loss?

What is the relationship between dietary patterns consumed during lactation and human milk composition and quantity?

What is the relationship between dietary patterns consumed during lactation and developmental milestones, including neurocognitive development, in the child?

What is the relationship between folic acid from supplements and/or fortified foods consumed before and during pregnancy and lactation and health outcomes?

What is the relationship between omega-3 fatty acids from supplements consumed before and during pregnancy and lactation and developmental milestones, including neurocognitive development, in the child?

What is the relationship between maternal diet during pregnancy and lactation and risk of child food allergies and atopic allergic diseases?