Lai, J. S., Colega, M. T., Godfrey, K. M., Tan, K. H., Yap, F., Chong, Y. S., Lee, Y. S., Eriksson, J. G., Chan, S.-Y., & Chong, M. F. F. (2023). Changes in Diet Quality from Pregnancy to 6 Years Postpregnancy and Associations with Cardiometabolic Risk Markers. Nutrients, 15(8), 1870. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15081870
Abstract:
Adopting a healthy diet during and after pregnancy is important for women’s cardiometabolic health. We related changes in diet quality from pregnancy to 6 years postpregnancy to cardiometabolic markers 8 years postpregnancy. In 652 women from the GUSTO cohort, we assessed dietary intakes at 26–28 weeks’ gestation and 6 years postpregnancy using 24 h recall and a food frequency questionnaire, respectively; diet quality was scored using a modified Healthy Eating Index for Singaporean women. Diet quality quartiles were derived; stable, large/small improvement/decline in diet quality as no change, >1 or 1 quartile increase/decrease. Fasting triglyceride (TG), total-, high- and low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (TC, HDL- and LDL-C), glucose and insulin were measured 8 years postpregnancy; homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and TG: HDL-C ratio were derived. Linear regressions examined changes in diet quality quartiles and cardiometabolic markers. Compared to a stable diet quality, a large improvement was associated with lower postpregnancy TG [−0.17 (−0.32, −0.01) mmol/L], TG: HDL-C ratio [−0.21 (−0.35, −0.07) mmol/L], and HOMA-IR [−0.47 (−0.90, −0.03)]; a large decline was associated with higher postpregnancy TC and LDL-C [0.25 (0.02, 0.49); 0.20 (0.004, 0.40) mmol/L]. Improving or preventing a decline in diet quality postpregnancy may improve lipid profile and insulin resistance.
License type:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Funding Info:
This research / project is supported by the National Medical Research Council - Translational and Clinical Research (TCR) Flagship Programme
Grant Reference no. : NMRC/TCR/004-NUS/2008; NMRC/TCR/012-NUHS/2014