Low Healthy Eating Scores Common in Pregnancy, Postpartum Periods

Jan 07, 2025

MONDAY, Jan. 6, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Total Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI) scores are consistently low throughout pregnancy and postpartum, according to a study published in the November issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Leah M. Lipsky, Ph.D., from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues examined diet quality from early pregnancy through one year postpartum and assessed differences by sociodemographic characteristics. A total of 383 participants completed 24-hour dietary recalls at six study visits (each pregnancy trimester and at six weeks, six months, and one year postpartum).

The total HEI mean ± standard error scores were 61.4 ± 0.8 and 61.7 ± 0.9 in pregnancy and postpartum, respectively. The researchers observed differences in the mean HEI scores by socioeconomic characteristics, especially education, marital status, and federal assistance participation. Participants with at least a bachelor’s degree (64.1 ± 0.9 and 64.5 ± 1.0 in pregnancy and postpartum, respectively) and those with other non-Hispanic White race/ethnicity (64.7 ± 1.8 and 66.4 ± 22.2 in pregnancy and postpartum, respectively) had the highest scores. No between-visit differences were seen in mean total HEI scores. Differences were observed in some mean HEI component scores between pregnancy and postpartum visits, but they were small in magnitude and inconsistent in direction.

“Mean diet quality as measured by the HEI was stable over pregnancy and postpartum in this cohort and did not suggest a general trend toward increasing or decreasing quality between these periods,” the authors write. “Although some sociodemographic characteristics may identify individuals at greater risk of diet-related pregnancy complications, low diet quality was pervasive throughout all subgroups and reflects an urgent need for widespread improvement.”

One author was employed by Glotech Inc.

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