Abstract
Little is known about how dietary patterns of mothers and their children track over time. The objectives of this study are to obtain dietary patterns in pregnancy using cluster analysis, to examine women's mean nutrient intakes in each cluster and to compare the dietary patterns of mothers to those of their children. Pregnant women (n = 12 195) from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children reported their frequency of consumption of 47 foods and food groups. These data were used to obtain dietary patterns during pregnancy by cluster analysis. The absolute and energy‐adjusted nutrient intakes were compared between clusters. Women's dietary patterns were compared with previously derived clusters of their children at 7 years of age. Multinomial logistic regression was performed to evaluate relationships comparing maternal and offspring clusters. Three maternal clusters were identified: ‘fruit and vegetables’, ‘meat and potatoes’ and ‘white bread and coffee’. After energy adjustment women in the ‘fruit and vegetables’ cluster had the highest mean nutrient intakes. Mothers in the ‘fruit and vegetables’ cluster were more likely than mothers in ‘meat and potatoes’ (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 2.00; 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.69–2.36) or ‘white bread and coffee’ (OR: 2.18; 95% CI: 1.87–2.53) clusters to have children in a ‘plant‐based’ cluster. However the majority of children were in clusters unrelated to their mother dietary pattern. Three distinct dietary patterns were obtained in pregnancy; the ‘fruit and vegetables’ pattern being the most nutrient dense. Mothers' dietary patterns were associated with but did not dominate offspring dietary patterns.
Highlights
Energy and nutrient requirements during pregnancy are increased because of maternal metabolic demands to achieve an optimal length of gestation and fetal development (Ramakrishnan et al 2012; Grieger & Clifton 2014)
Adequate nutrient intake during pregnancy is influenced by the consumption of a balanced diet, which needs to be composed of a range of food items providing an adequate supply of macronutrients and bioavailable micronutrients (Black 2001)
The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) is a longitudinal birth cohort designed to investigate the determinants of health and disease during pregnancy, childhood and beyond (Golding et al 2001; Boyd et al 2013; Fraser et al 2013)
Summary
Energy and nutrient requirements during pregnancy are increased because of maternal metabolic demands to achieve an optimal length of gestation and fetal development (Ramakrishnan et al 2012; Grieger & Clifton 2014). An unhealthy diet and inadequate nutrient intakes during pregnancy may influence weight gain during pregnancy (Maslova et al 2015), hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (Schoenaker et al 2014), maternal (Chatzi et al 2011) and offspring (Jacka et al 2013) mental health, birthweight and fetal growth (Okubo et al 2012; Ramakrishnan et al 2012; Grieger & Clifton 2014).
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