Serum markers
Tumor Necrosis, TNF-α
PCT, -20
Prior to randomisation, at pregnancy week 20-25, as well as at post-intervention, at pregnancy week 30-35, the participants left blood samples at a health clinic laboratory. 5 ml of blood was collected from each participant and then left to cool down for 30-60 minutes in room temperature before being centrifuged for 10 minutes at 2400 x gravity. The serum from each tube was thereafter aliquoted into two separate tubes, and frozen at -20°C. The biological outcomes in this study included serum levels of Interleukin-10 (IL-10), Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Interleukin-1β (IL-1β), Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α), osteocalcin and nine acute phase proteins (alpha-2-microglobulin (A2M), C-reactive protein (CRP), haptoglobin, serum amyloid P (SAP), procalcitonin (PCT), ferritin, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), fibrinogen and serum amyloid A (SAA)). Serum levels were assessed by using a premixed, magnetic bead-based multiplex panel (BioRad, Hercules, CA, USA), according to the manufacturer instructions. Concentrations were imputed using Bio-Plex 200 Suspension Array System with Bio-Plex Manager 6.0 software (Hercules, CA, USA). Coefficients of variation were calculated for the manufacturer-provided analytical controls. Samples below the lower level of quantification (LLOQ) were assigned the value of the LLOQ/