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. 2018 Nov 20;17(1):107.
doi: 10.1186/s12937-018-0413-3.

Dietary patterns during pregnancy and risk of gestational diabetes: a prospective cohort study in Western China

Jonathan K L Mak  1 , Ngoc Minh Pham  1   2 , Andy H Lee  1 , Li Tang  3 , Xiong-Fei Pan  4 , Colin W Binns  1 , Xin Sun  5
Affiliations

Dietary patterns during pregnancy and risk of gestational diabetes: a prospective cohort study in Western China

Jonathan K L Mak et al. Nutr J. .

Abstract

Background: Previous research has demonstrated the association between maternal dietary patterns and gestational diabetes (GDM), but evidence in Asian populations remains limited and inconsistent. This study investigated the association between dietary patterns during early pregnancy and the risk of GDM among pregnant women in Western China.

Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted among 1337 pregnant women in Western China. Dietary intakes were assessed at 15-20 weeks of gestation using a validated food frequency questionnaire. GDM was diagnosed by oral glucose tolerance tests at 24-28 weeks of gestation. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to derive dietary patterns, and logistic regression models were used to examine the association between dietary patterns and GDM.

Results: A total of 199 women (14.9%) developed GDM. Three dietary patterns were identified, namely, a plant-based pattern, a meat-based pattern and a high protein-low starch pattern. Notwithstanding a lack of association between dietary patterns and GDM risk in the whole cohort, there was a significant reduction in GDM risk among overweight women (BMI ≥24 kg/m2); the odds ratio being 0.29 (95% confidence interval 0.09 to 0.94) when comparing the highest versus the lowest score of the high protein-low starch pattern.

Conclusions: There was no significant association between early pregnancy dietary patterns and GDM risk later in pregnancy for women in Western China, but high protein-low starch diet was associated with lower risk for GDM among women who were overweight at pre-pregnancy.

Keywords: Body mass index; China; Dietary patterns; Gestational diabetes; Pregnancy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the ethics committee of West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University and the Human Research Ethics Committee of Curtin University. All participants have signed a consent form before enrollment to the study.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Association between the high protein-low starch pattern and gestational diabetes according to pre-pregnancy body mass index levels. The model is adjusted for age, family history of diabetes, education, parity and total physical activity. Circle (•) represents women with BMI < 24 kg/m2; cross (×) denotes women with BMI ≥24 kg/m2
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