However, researchers in the US are carrying out a large-scale controlled test for which there is overwhelming evidence of a direct effect of maternal behaviour – and that relates to fasting during Ramadan. A foetus in its first month with a fasting mother is more than 20 per cent more likely to suffer from visual, hearing or learning disabilities as an adult.
The effect is magnified when Ramadan falls in a summer month, with a longer period of fasting, and also when the mother lives further from the equator, when the day length is greater.
The NHS-supported booklet Ramadan Health Guide says that all those who are pregnant – and some others – are exempted from fasting. They are required instead to make up the days missed later, or give a sum to charity. So all those who come into professional contact with Muslim women who may become pregnant during Ramadan should be already advising them appropriately.
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