They figure out what to do to make babies weigh more at birth

Maternal exposure to residential green spaces is associated with higher birth weights and less likely to have a small-for-gestational-age baby, according to a study published in the journal Environment International.

“Ensuring healthy fetal growth is essential to prevent many negative health consequences.both early in life and later in life,” said María Torres, first author of the study.

And added that “Babies with low birth weight, or small for gestational age, may be at increased risk of growth problems, low IQ and premature death in childhood, as well as obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes in adulthood.

Children grow more under certain conditions

The new study, in which a team from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) participated, evaluated the associations between maternal exposure to green and blue spaces during pregnancy and delivery outcomes in eleven groups of newborns in nine European countries, including Spain.

The study was based on a sample of 69,683 newborns, with an average birth weight of 3.42 kg and of which 6.6% were classified as SGA.as newborns whose weight is less than or equal to the 10th percentile are called.

For each participant, seven indicators of residential exposure to natural environments were calculated: green space 100, 300 and 500 meters from the house -calculated using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)-, distance to nearest green space, accessibility to green space, distance to nearest blue space, and accessibility to blue space.

The researchers assessed possible effect modification based on socioeconomic status (SES) and region of Europe, according to the Servicio de Información y Noticias Científicas (SINC) website.

The results indicate stronger associations between residential green space and higher birth weight for participants with lower educational levels, coming from more disadvantaged areas and living in Northern Europe.

The results of the study on the weight of newborns at birth

The findings of this study are in line with previous research from various regions of the world.

A growing number of studies have reported associations between maternal exposure to green spaces and increased birth weight.

However, most of these studies were conducted in a single country with a given climate and vegetation type, and effect estimates differed from region to region.

The research was attended by people from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Spain, Lithuania, Norway, Italy and Greece.

According to their authors, the results support the application of policies for the promotion of natural environments in our cities, starting from the most disadvantaged areas.

Payam Dadvand, ISGlobal researcher and senior author of the study, said: “Data from eleven representative birth groups from across Europe have allowed us to assess, for the first time, this association in different countries and shed light on the role of the region in this question”.

Source/agencies