Prenatal exposure to tobacco and adverse birth outcomes: effect modification by folate intake during pregnancy.

Background: Fetal exposure to tobacco increases the risk for many adverse birth outcomes, but whether diet mitigates these risks has yet to be explored. Here, we examined whether maternal folate intake (from foods and supplements) during pregnancy modified the association between prenatal exposure to tobacco and with preterm delivery, small-for-gestational age (SGA) births, or neonatal adiposity.

Methods: Mother-child pairs (n = 701) from Healthy Start were included in this analysis.