Daily Mail, By DAILY MAIL REPORTER, 25th June 2010
Pregnant Muslim women who fast during Ramadan are likely to have smaller babies who are more prone to learning disabilities, a new study has found.
Researchers from the U.S said this trend was most marked if mothers-to-be fasted early on in their pregnancy and during the summer when longer days meant they went more hours without food.
They also found that the women were 10 per cent less likely to give birth to a boy if they had fasted.
Thousands of Palestinian women pray around the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem during Ramadan. Dawn-to-dusk fasting is practised for the month
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and a time when Muslims across the world fast from dawn until sunset.
Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam and many women may fear a loss of connection with their communities if they did not observe it.
Women who request an exemption from fasting are expected to make up the days they have missed after their baby is born.
The study was based on census data from the US, Iraq and Uganda. It also revealed that the long-term effects on the adult's health impacted on their future economic success.
Study author Douglas Almond, of Columbia University said: 'We generally find the largest effects on adults when Ramadan falls early in pregnancy.
'Rates of adult disability are roughly 20 per cent higher, with specific mental disabilities showing substantially larger effects.
'Importantly, we detect no corresponding outcome differences when the same design is applied to non-Muslims.'
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