Mums-to-be exposed to ‘environmental pollutants’ give birth to larger babies

Pregnant women living in large cities are more likely to give birth to higher weight babies than those living in rural areas, due to higher exposure to xenoestrogens, a type of environmental pollutants that act like hormones, researchers have found.

This is the first research study conducted in Spain establishing a correlation between estrogenic burden in pregnant women’s placenta and a higher birth weight.

For the purpose of this study, the University of Granada researchers examined two groups of pregnant women.

The first group was composed of pregnant women living in Madrid working in the field of administration or education, while the second consisted of women living in rural areas of the province of Granada who were exclusively devoted to household chores.

The researchers found that there were biological, demographic and socio-economic differences between both groups of women, which determined the presence of xenoestrogens in the placenta due to exposure to environmental chemicals.

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