A healthy, Mediterranean-style diet during pregnancy was linked to a lower chance that a baby has both colic and eczema, a new study found. The work was led by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Boston Children's Hospital, News-Medical and Earth.com reported. It was published Oct. 12 in JAMA Network Open.

The team studied 1,324 mothers and babies from Project Viva, a study that enrolled pregnant women in eastern Massachusetts from 1999 to 2002. Mothers filled out food surveys during pregnancy. When the babies were about six months old, mothers were asked about colic and eczema.

Colic means long bouts of crying in a healthy baby that nothing seems to soothe. Eczema is dry, itchy, inflamed skin. Just 61 babies had both, Earth.com reported.

Each extra point on the Mediterranean diet score was linked to about 15% lower odds that a baby had both conditions. A diet that tends to cause inflammation was linked to higher odds. Diet showed no clear link to either condition on its own. Eating seafood during pregnancy was also tied to lower risk, News-Medical reported.

"Our new study is the first to ask how prenatal diet may influence colic," said Jenifer Lightdale of Boston Children's Hospital, Earth.com reported. Babies with both conditions may face the highest risk of allergies later, she said.

The researchers recorded what women already ate. So the results show a link but cannot prove the food made the difference, Earth.com noted.

Most babies in the study, 838 of them, had neither condition. About 40% of the mothers had asthma, hay fever or eczema themselves, Earth.com reported.

What we know: Mothers with healthier diets in pregnancy were less likely to have babies with both colic and eczema.
What we don't: Whether changing diet in pregnancy would actually prevent these problems.