[attach id=317060 size="medium"]Women who followed the first “prudent” diet rich in fibre, fruit and vegetables had around a 12 per cent reduced risk of premature delivery.Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Wire[/attach]

Pregnant women who drink water and eat a diet rich in fruit, vegetables and whole grain cereal could reduce their chance of premature birth, research suggests.

Experts found that women who enjoyed such a diet, also rich in oils, whole grain bread and poultry, were less likely to give birth before 37 weeks.

Those women who followed a different, more “traditional” diet – of foods such as potatoes, cooked vegetables and fish - could also cut their risk.

Writing online in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), experts studied data for 66,000 pregnant women, of which 3,505 (5.3 per cent) delivered their babies early.

They found that women who followed the first “prudent” diet rich in fibre, fruit and vegetables had around a 12 per cent reduced risk of premature delivery, especially if they were having their first baby, compared to other women.

Risks were also cut by around nine per cent for those who favoured the more “traditional” diet.

There was no link found between premature birth and women eating a “Western-style” diet of salty and sweet snacks, white bread, desserts and processed meats.

The authors, from hospitals and public health organisations in Sweden, Norway and Iceland, said: “Although these findings cannot establish causality, they support dietary advice to pregnant women to eat a balanced diet including vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and fish and to drink water.

“Our results indicate that increasing the intake of foods associated with a prudent dietary pattern is more important than totally excluding processed food, fast food, junk food, and snacks.”

In an accompanying editorial, Lucilla Poston professor at King’s College London, said other studies had proposed the benefit of a diet rich in fruit and vegetables in preventing premature birth.

Jane Munro, quality and audit development adviser at the Royal College of Midwives, said: “These are welcome and interesting findings that support the advice given to pregnant women by midwives about their diet.

“This study is a useful addition to the evidence that healthy eating and ensuring women drink enough water can have a significant impact and help to reduce the potentially serious problem of pre-term birth.

“This should also be a public health message for women about healthy eating whether they are pregnant or not.”