Aim: We wish to examine whether dietary patterns derived during pregnancy are associated with gestational weight gain (GWG).

Background: It has recently been shown in ALSPAC that increased GWG is associated with adverse outcomes in child outcomes (Fraser et al, 2010). Little is known about what actually drives GWG; one potentially modifiable factor is dietary intake, whereby increased energy intake will lead to greater weight gain.

Exposure variables: Dietary patterns have already been derived using Principal Components Analaysis (Northstone et al, 2008)

Outcome variables: Pre-pregnancy weight combined with weight gain (kg/wk) in each trimester as determined by multi-level models (Fraser et al. 2010).

Confounding variables: Parity, maternal age and education level, smoking before/during pregnancy. In addition we will adjust for energy intake estimated from teh pregnancy FFQ.

We hypothesise that higher scores on the 'processed' component will lead to greater weight gain overall during pregnancy, while those mums scoring highly on the 'healthy' and 'traditional' patterns will gain less. Of particular interest is determining whether rates of weight gain differ by trimester according to dietary pattern scores.

References

K Northstone, P Emmett, I Rogers. Dietary patterns in pregnancy and associations with socio-demographic and lifestyle factors. Eur J Clin Nutr 2008; 62: 471-479.

Fraser A, Tilling K, Brion M-J, Ness A, Deanfield J, Hingorani A, Nelson, SM, DaveySmith G, Lawlor DA. Association of maternal weight gain in pregnancy with offspring obesity, metabolic and vascular traits in childhood: the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Circulation; 2010;121:2557-2564