Maternal Mediterranean Diet during Pregnancy and Adiposity from Early Childhood through Preadolescence

Abstract

Objective:

To assess the longitudinal associations between maternal diet during pregnancy and child adiposity between ages 2 and 12 years.

Methods:

Repeated measures linear regression models with autoregressive covariance were used to assess the association between maternal diet and child body mass index (BMI) trajectories between ages 2 and 12 years. Logistic regression models were used to assess the associations between maternal diet and likelihood of child BMI greater than the 85th percentile, as well as the association between age at adiposity rebound and the likelihood of subsequent overweight/obesity. Additionally, multiple linear regression was used to assess the association between maternal diet and child age at adiposity rebound. Interactions with race/ethnicity were explored.

Results:

There was no association between maternal diet during pregnancy and child adiposity, but race-ethnic specific analyses revealed that compared to a high maternal adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet, a low adherence was associated with a higher BMI trajectory among White children (β = −0.67; p = 0.01).

Conclusions:

Maternal diet during pregnancy may influence child BMI trajectories in race/ethnic-specific ways that likely stem from cultural and socioeconomic factors that should be considered when designing interventions.