Although no obvious relationship between organic diet during pregnancy and hypospadias has been found, frequent consumption of non-organic high-fat dairy products during pregnancy might be associated with increased odds of hypospadias, according to research published in the Journal of Urology (2013;189:1077-1082).
Jeppe Schultz Christensen, of the University of South Denmark in Odense, and colleagues evaluated the effects of organic diet during pregnancy and hypospadias in a case-control study conducted in 306 mothers of boys operated on for hypospadias and 306 mothers with healthy boys.
According to the researchers, mothers who never or rarely chose any organic products had non-significant 31% increased odds of giving birth to a boy with hypospadias, in adjusted analyses. However, rare choice of organic non-milk dairy products was associated with 36% higher unadjusted odds of giving birth to a boy with hypospadias, but this association was not statistically significant after adjusting for confounders. A similar association was observed for mothers rarely or never choosing organic eggs.
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“Maternal choice of the organic alternative to food items during pregnancy was not associated with hypospadias in the offspring. However, rare choice of organic non-milk dairy products or eggs was associated with hypospadias, although the difference was not statistically significant,” the authors wrote. “We speculate that conventional dairy products may be contaminated with chemicals, possibly lipophilic pesticides with endocrine disrupting abilities.”
