Healthier diet associated with reduced risk of excessive gestational weight gain: A Chinese prospective cohort study

Abstract

Limited studies have examined the associations between diet quality and gestational weight gain (GWG) among Chinese pregnant women, adopting Chinese GWG guidelines. We prospectively investigate the associations of diet quality, using the Chinese Healthy Diet Index for Pregnancy (CHDI-P), which assessed diet quality from 'Diversity', 'Adequacy' and 'Limitation' dimensions with overall 100 points, with GWG among participants enroled in Southwest China. Food consumption was collected by 24 h dietary recalls for three consecutive days and CHDI-P scores were divided into tertiles. GWG was calculated according to the weight measured before delivery and classified into adequate weight gain (AWG), insufficient weight gain (IWG) and excessive weight gain(EWG) following Chinese GWG guidelines.Multinomial regression analyses and stratified analyses by pre-pregnancy body mass index were performed to estimate the association between CHDI-P and GWG. A total of 1416 participants were recruited in early pregnancy, and 971 and 997 participants were respectively followed up in middle and late pregnancy. The mean CHDI-P score was 56.44 ± 6.74, 57.07 ± 7.44 and 57.38 ± 7.94 points in early, middle and late pregnancy, respectively. Women in the lowest CHDI-P scores group had an increased risk of EWG in middle (OR = 1.53, 95% confidence interval[CI] = 1.08-2.17) and late pregnancy (OR = 1.71, 95% CI = 1.21-2.41) than women in the highest group, while overweight/obese women had a greater risk of EWG in late pregnancy (OR = 4.25, 95% CI = 1.30-13.90). No association was found between the CHDI-P scores and IWG. Poor diet quality in middle and late pregnancy was associated with a higher risk of EWG.

Exploring the relationships between pre-pregnancy BMI, gestational weight gain, and nutritional intake: a real-world investigation in Shandong, China

“…It was developed from evidence linking various food components with maternal health, as established through large-scale population studies and encompasses 23 food components. The validity of CHDI-P was confirmed in a cohort study involving 1,416 Chinese pregnant women ( Yang et al, 2023 ). The CHDI-P scale provides a comprehensive three-dimensional evaluation of dietary quality.…”

“…We assessed the dietary quality of expectant mothers using the Chinese Healthy Dietary Index for Pregnancy (CHDI-P) ( Yang et al, 2023 ). The CHDI-P scale is derived from the 2016 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Pregnant Women in China ( Yang et al, 2018 ).…”

Gestational weight gain velocity during each trimester is critical for both maternal health and birth outcomes in China

“…The purpose of this special collection of papers is to bring together research that has been conducted on GWG in China. These papers (Song et al, 2023 ; Wang et al, 2023 ; Yang et al, 2023 ) provide new local evidence that may be used for developing global GWG guidelines.…”

“…In the third paper of this section, Yang et al ( 2023 ) describe the relationship between diet quality and excessive GWG from a prospective cohort study (Yang et al, 2023 ). The study showed that higher diet quality during the second and third trimesters was associated with lower odds of excessive GWG for both normal weight and overweight women.…”

“…The study showed that higher diet quality during the second and third trimesters was associated with lower odds of excessive GWG for both normal weight and overweight women. Adequacy of healthy food during the second and third trimesters was protective against excessive GWG (Yang et al, 2023 ).…”