Maternal dietary patterns during pregnancy and body composition of the child at age 6 y: the Generation R Study.
BACKGROUND
Maternal diet during pregnancy may affect body composition of the offspring later in life, but evidence is still scarce.


OBJECTIVE
We aimed to examine whether maternal dietary patterns during pregnancy are associated with body composition of the child at age 6 y.


METHODS
This study was performed among 2695 Dutch mother-child pairs from a population-based prospective cohort study from fetal life onward. Maternal diet was assessed in early pregnancy by a 293-item semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire. Vegetable, fish, and oil; nuts, soy, and high-fiber cereals; and margarine, snacks, and sugar dietary patterns were derived from principal component analysis. We measured weight and height of the child at age 6 y at the research center. Total body fat and regional fat mass percentages of the child were assessed with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry.


RESULTS
In the crude models, statistically significant associations were found for higher adherence to the vegetable, fish, and oil dietary pattern and the nuts, soy, and high-fiber cereals dietary pattern with lower body mass index, lower fat mass index, and lower risk of being overweight, but none of these associations remained significant after adjustment for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors. We found no associations between the margarine, snacks, and sugar dietary pattern and any of the outcomes.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that the associations between maternal dietary patterns during pregnancy and body composition of the child at age 6 y are to a large extent explained by sociodemographic and lifestyle factors of mother and child.
Department of Epidemiology.
Marion
M
van den Broek
Department of Epidemiology, The Generation R Study Group, Department of Pediatrics.
Elisabeth Tm
ET
Leermakers
Department of Epidemiology, The Generation R Study Group, Department of Pediatrics.
Vincent Wv
VW
Jaddoe
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Eric Ap
EA
Steegers
Department of Epidemiology, The Generation R Study Group, Department of Internal Medicine, and.
Fernando
F
Rivadeneira
Department of Public Health, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands, and.
Hein
H
Raat
Department of Epidemiology.
Albert
A
Hofman
Department of Epidemiology.
Oscar H
OH
Franco
Department of Epidemiology, Leiden University College, The Hague, Netherlands j.c.kiefte-dejong@erasmusmc.nl.
Jessica C
JC
Kiefte-de Jong
D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon; D000818:Animals; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D004032:Diet; D004043:Dietary Fiber / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002523:Edible Grain; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005399:Fishes; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D016014:Linear Models; D039382:Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009754:Nuts; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017747:Seafood; D062410:Snacks; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014675:Vegetables
child body composition; diet during pregnancy; dietary patterns; epidemiology; fetal programming