Pregnant women who stick to a cholesterol-lowering diet may reduce their risk of delivering prematurely, Norwegian investigators report.

"These results indicate that dietary intervention in pregnancy can modify cardiovascular risk factors in pregnancy and may result in health benefits for mother and child," Dr. Janette Khoury from the National Hospital in Oslo and colleagues write in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

They researched the effects of a cholesterol-curbing diet on levels of lipids in maternal, cord, and neonatal blood, as well as on pregnancy outcome, in 290 nonsmoking pregnant women ages 21 to 38 years.

Read more about study findings related to low cholesterol diet and prevention of premature delivery at http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2005-10-26T194515Z_01_RID670979_RTRUKOC_0_US-CHOLESTEROL-LOWERING-DIET-HELPFUL-PREGNAN.xml&archived=False.