Maternal diet quality in pregnancy and neonatal adiposity: the Healthy Start Study

• Published in: International Journal of Obesity 2016-07, Vol.40 (7), p.1056-1062
• Main Authors: Shapiro, A L B, Kaar, J L, Crume, T L, Starling, A P, Siega-Riz, A M, Ringham, B M, Glueck, D H, Norris, J M, Barbour, L A, Friedman, J E, Dabelea, D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/443/319/1488/393; 692/308/174; 692/499; 692/700/1720/3186; 692/700/1750/1747; 692/700/2814; Adipose tissue; Adipose tissues; Adiposity - physiology; Adult; Birth; Birth weight; Birth Weight - physiology; Blood Glucose; Body composition; Body fat; Body Mass Index; Body size; Confidence intervals; Diabetes; Diet; Diet Surveys; Eating behavior; Energy Intake; Epidemiology; Fat-free body mass; Feeding Behavior; Female; Fetal Development - physiology; Fetus; Fetuses; Food and nutrition; Gestational age; Growth; Health care; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Humans; Hypertension; Hypotheses; Infant, Newborn; Internal Medicine; Longitudinal Studies; Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Maternal-fetal exchange; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Mothers; Neonates; Nutrient deficiency; Nutrition research; Obesity; Offspring; original-article; Overweight; Pediatrics; Physical activity; Physiological aspects; Plethysmography; Pre-eclampsia; Pregnancy; Pregnant women; Prenatal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Public Health; Quality assessment; United States - epidemiology; Weight control; Womens health
• ISSN: 0307-0565; 1476-5497
• DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2016.79

Background/Objectives: Poor maternal diet in pregnancy can influence fetal growth and development. We tested the hypothesis that poor maternal diet quality during pregnancy would increase neonatal adiposity (percent fat mass (%FM)) at birth by increasing the fat mass (FM) component of neonatal body composition. Methods: Our analysis was conducted using a prebirth observational cohort of 1079 mother–offspring pairs. Pregnancy diet was assessed via repeated Automated Self-Administered 24-h dietary recalls, from which Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI-2010) scores were calculated for each mother. HEI-2010 was dichotomized into scores of ⩽57 and >57, with low scores representing poorer diet quality. Neonatal %FM was assessed within 72 h after birth with air displacement plethysmography. Using univariate and multivariate linear models, we analyzed the relationship between maternal diet quality and neonatal %FM, FM, and fat-free mass (FFM) while adjusting for prepregnancy body mass index (BMI), physical activity, maternal age, smoking, energy intake, preeclampsia, hypertension, infant sex and gestational age. Results: Total HEI-2010 score ranged between 18.2 and 89.5 (mean: 54.2, s.d.: 13.6). An HEI-2010 score of ⩽57 was significantly associated with higher neonatal %FM (β=0.58, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.07–1.1, P< 0.05) and FM (β=20.74; 95% CI 1.49–40.0; P< 0.05) but no difference in FFM. Conclusions: Poor diet quality during pregnancy increases neonatal adiposity independent of maternal prepregnancy BMI and total caloric intake. This further implicates maternal diet as a potentially important exposure for fetal adiposity.