Association between healthy maternal dietary pattern and risk for gestational diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is associated with negative health effects for mother and child. The aim was to investigate the association between maternal dietary patterns and GDM. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Prospective observational study including 168 pregnant women aged 18-40 years, recruited at routine 20-week ultrasound. All participants kept a 4-day weighed food record following recruitment (commencement: gestational weeks 19-24). Principal component analysis was used to extract dietary patterns from 29 food groups. A Healthy Eating Index (HEI) was constructed. All women underwent an oral glucose tolerance test in weeks 23-28. RESULTS: One clear dietary pattern (Eigenvalue 2.4) was extracted with positive factor loadings for seafood; eggs; vegetables; fruits and berries; vegetable oils; nuts and seeds; pasta; breakfast cereals; and coffee, tea and cocoa powder, and negative factor loadings for soft drinks and French fries. This pattern was labeled a prudent dietary pattern. Explained variance was 8.2%. The prevalence of GDM was 2.3% among women of normal weight before pregnancy (n=86) and 18.3% among overweight/obese women (n=82). The prudent dietary pattern was associated with lower risk of GDM (OR: 0.54; 95% CI: 0.30, 0.98). When adjusting for age, parity, prepregnancy weight, energy intake, weekly weight gain and total metabolic equivalent of task the association remained (OR: 0.36; 95% CI: 0.14, 0.94). Similar results were found when only including overweight or obese women (OR: 0.31; 95% CI: 0.13, 0.75). CONCLUSIONS: Adhering to a prudent dietary pattern in pregnancy was clearly associated with lower risk of GDM, especially among women already at higher risk because of overweight/obesity before pregnancy.

Relationship between BMI and body fatness in three European countries.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Body fatness and heart disease risk factors can differ considerably between ethnities for a given body mass index (BMI). Information is lacking on differences between various Caucasian populations within Europe. The aim was to investigate the differences in anthropometrics and risk factors between adults from Iceland, Spain and Ireland. SUBJECT/METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of the baseline data from the SEAFOODplus YOUNG intervention study, in which 324 subjects (20-40 years, BMI 27.5-32.5 kg/m(2), from Iceland, Spain and Ireland) participated. Fasting glucose, insulin, blood lipids and body compossition were measured, insulin resistance was calculated using the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance. RESULTS: Although age and BMI did not differ between Spanish, Irish and Icelandic subjects, Irish subjects had significantly higher waist circumference (3.2 and 6.7 cm) and body fat percentage (4.4 and 2.0%) compared with Icelandic and Spanish participants, respectively. Irish participants had also more unfavorable cardio-metabolic risk factors compared with Spanish and Icelandic subjects. However, correction for waist attenuated the observed differences considerably, in particular for total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein and triglycerides. CONCLUSIONS: Despite having near identical BMI and age, our results show that study participants from different populations within Europe differ considerably in cardio-metabolic risk factors, partly due to differences in body fat distribution.