Division of Environmental Medicine, Department of Food Toxicology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Nydalen, Norway. margaretha.haugen@fhi.no
BACKGROUND: Mediterranean diet has been shown to reduce the incidence of preterm birth. We wanted to investigate whether a Mediterranean-type diet (MD) could be associated with a lower risk of preterm birth in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). METHODS: The data collection was conducted as part of MoBa at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. In MoBa, women answer a Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) at week 18-22 of pregnancy. The MD criteria were intake of fish > or =2 times a week, fruit and vegetables > or =5 times a day, use of olive/canola oil, red meat intake