Exploring the Effect of Nutrition on Fetal Development in Pregnant Patients With Inflammatory Gut Diseases: A Scoping Review.

Inflammatory gut diseases (IGDs) are increasing in prevalence and pose unique challenges during pregnancy. Poorly controlled IGDs in pregnant women are linked to adverse fetal outcomes such as low birth weight, preterm birth, and impaired gut microbiome development. Nutritional deficiencies, particularly in magnesium, folate, and vitamin B12, exacerbate these risks due to both inadequate intake and malabsorption. This scoping review aimed to evaluate the role of nutrition in fetal development among pregnant women with IGDs, highlighting dietary strategies that may enhance maternal gastrointestinal health and optimize fetal outcomes. This study was designed as a scoping review to examine the relationship between IGDs, pregnancy, and nutrition. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping review (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines, a search was conducted for peer-reviewed literature using the databases Embase, Web of Science, Ovid MEDLINE, and CINAHL. The search was restricted to studies published in English within the last ten years and that focused on pregnant or postpartum patients and fetuses in the context of nutrition and IGDs. The search strategy used predefined terms in multiple combinations with Boolean operators: "inflammatory bowel disease", "pregnancy", "fetus development", "nutritional deficiency", "diet restriction", and "vitamin supplementation". The search identified 1,589 records, of which 728 remained after duplicate removal. Following title and abstract screening, 103 full-text reports were sought for retrieval, 98 were assessed for eligibility, and five studies met the final inclusion criteria. The included studies suggest that multidisciplinary antenatal care, maintenance of disease remission, and attention to maternal nutritional status may support favorable maternal and neonatal outcomes. However, the available evidence is limited, consists primarily of observational studies, and no included study directly evaluated nutritional interventions and fetal outcomes. Research on fetal outcomes remains limited and warrants future investigations exploring long-term fetal outcomes, the impact of maternal nutritional deficiencies, and dietary interventions to improve treatment protocols. Advancements in this research can ultimately improve maternal and neonatal outcomes in IGD-affected pregnancies.