Ramadan Fasting during Pregnancy and Health Outcomes in Offspring: A Systematic Review.

ABSTRACT: Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, during which fasting is obligatory for all healthy individuals. Although pregnant women are exempt from this Islamic law, the majority nevertheless choose to fast. This review aims to identify the effects of Ramadan fasting on the offspring of Muslim mothers, particularly on fetal growth, birth indices, cognitive effects and long-term effects. A systematic literature search was conducted until March 2020 in Web of Science, Pubmed, Cochrane Library, Embase and Google Scholar. Studies were evaluated based on a pre-defined quality score ranging from 0 (low quality) to 10 (high quality), and 43 articles were included. The study quality ranged from 2 to 9 with a mean quality score of 5.4. Only 3 studies had a high quality score (>7), of which one fou

SUBMITTER: Oosterwijk VNL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8540108 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature