Longitudinal dietary trajectories from pregnancy to 3 years post delivery in women with obesity: relationships with adiposity

Abstract

Objective: The study aim was to examine the relationships between longitudinal dietary trajectories from early pregnancy to 3 years post delivery and adiposity measures in women with obesity. Methods:The diets of 1208 women with obesity in the UPBEAT (UK Pregnancy Better Eating and Activity Trial) study were assessed using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) at 15 +0 to 18 +6 weeks' gestation (baseline), 27 +0 to 28 +6 weeks' gestation, and 34 +0 to 36 +0 weeks' gestation, as well as 6 months and 3 years post delivery. Using factor analysis of the baseline FFQ data, four dietary patterns were identified: fruit & vegetable, African/Caribbean, processed, and snacking. The baseline scoring system was applied to the FFQ data at the four subsequent time points. Group-based trajectory modeling was used to extract longitudinal dietary pattern trajectories. Using adjusted regression, associations between dietary trajectories and log-transformed/standardized adiposity measures (BMI and waist and mid-upper arm circumferences) at 3 years post delivery were examined.Results: Two trajectories were found to best describe the data for the four individual dietary patterns; these were characterized as high and low adherence. A high adherence to the processed pattern was associated with a higher BMI (β = 0.38 [95% CI: 0.06-0.69]) and higher waist (β = 0.35 [0.03-0.67]) and mid-upper arm circumferences (β = 0.36 [0.04-0.67]) at 3 years post delivery. Conclusions:In women with obesity, a processed dietary pattern across pregnancy and 3 years post delivery is associated with higher adiposity.

Association between Dietary Patterns during Pregnancy and Children’s Neurodevelopment: A Birth Cohort Study

“…The maximum likelihood method was used for parameter estimation and model fitting. Firstly, we explored two to five categories of potential trajectory models, considering existing relevant studies on dietary pattern score trajectories during pregnancy [27,28]. Based on the recommendations [26,29], the detailed selection criteria for the best-fitting model for trajectories were as follows:…”

“…We used a fully validated FFQ to repeatedly collect data in three trimesters of pregnancy, allowing us to capture changes in dietary intake throughout pregnancy. In addition, many studies have begun to fit trajectories of dietary patterns during pregnancy based on data from repeated measures [27,28]. In contrast, almost no studies explore the effects of the trajectories of mothers' dietary patterns during pregnancy on offspring neurodevelopment, which is the novelty of this paper.…”