Interrelation of Ramadan Fasting and Birth Weight

Muslim pregnant women desire to fast in Ramadan month. On the other hand, they worry about fetal health. Obstetricians do not have a clear idea about this issue. A cross-sectional study was done to determine fasting in pregnancy and birth weight interrelationship in term delivered pregnant women in Hamadan province.
Four thousand three hundred and forty three appropriate pregnant women took part in the study, in 4 groups, according to the number of fasting days. Non-fasting group (28.9%) did not keep fast in Ramadan at all. Other women kept fast for 19 days (group A), 1019 days (group B), and more than 20 days (group C).
Mean birth weights of 4 groups were statistically significant according to variance analysis (p=0.0006).
Newman-keuls procedure revealed that mean birth weight was higher in group C (3198.2 grams) in comparison to non-fasting group (3142 grams) and group A (3137.1 grams). Four groups were similar regarding low birth weight.
Ramadan fasting did not affect mean of birth weight regardless of pregnancy trimester. Low birth weight (LBW) among newborns of second trimester fasting women showed an increase although it was not significant (p=0.09).
In conclusion, in the present study Ramadan fasting in pregnancy did not affect birth weight of term infants.