Two research scholars have undertaken a study of the effects of fasting during pregnancy, using the Muslim holy month of Ramadan as the foundation for their database. According to the abstract of the paper, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the answer to the headline question could be “yes”.

We use the Islamic holy month of Ramadan as a natural experiment for evaluating the short and long-term effects of fasting during pregnancy. Using Michigan natality data we show that in utero exposure to Ramadan among Arab births results in lower birthweight and reduced gestation length. Preconception exposure to Ramadan is also associated with fewer male births. Using Census data in Uganda we also find that Muslims who were born nine months after Ramadan are 22 percent (p =0.02) more likely to be disabled as adults. Effects are found for vision, hearing, and especially for mental (or learning) disabilities. This may reflect the persistent effect of disruptions to early fetal development. We find no evidence that negative selection in conceptions during Ramadan accounts for our results. Nevertheless, caution in interpreting these results is warranted until our findings are corroborated in other settings.

I hope that the research doesn’t earn the authors a fatwa.

The paper was written by Douglas Almond of Columbia University and Bhashkar Mazumder of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. The full text of the paper can be purchased for US$5 via a link from this page.

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• 3 December 2008 -- Nigerian children to be vaccinated despite Muslim objections
• 9 November 2008 -- Religious beliefs can interfere with eye treatment

Tags: Health and medical, Islamic teaching, Ramadan
Filed under: Islam, Life Issues, Social sciences
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