Dietary Patterns during Pregnancy and Gestational Weight Gain: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The present systematic review (PROSPERO: CRD42020148630) hypothesizes the association of excessive weight gain during pregnancy with dietary patterns composed of ultraprocessed foods. Thus, the objective was to investigate the association between dietary patterns after analysis and weight gain during pregnancy. The search for articles was performed in nine databases. Two reviewers selected the articles in the databases and extracted from them the data used in the review. Two scales were used to evaluate the quality of the selected studies: New Castle-Ottawa Quality Assessment for cohort-based studies and Appraisal tool for Cross-Sectional Studies (AXIS) for cross-sectional-based studies. In total, 11 studies were identified with sample size variation (n = 173–5,733). Women presenting more adherence to healthy and traditional patterns (fruits, vegetables, salads, nuts, and dairy) recorded less excessive gestational weight gain (GWG). Higher intake of mixed patterns and western patterns rich in ultraprocessed foods were associated with a higher prevalence of excessive GWG (24.48–55.20%). Gestational dietary patterns a posteriori-derived that have presented ultraprocessed components rich in fat and sugars presented association with high GWG; healthy and traditional dietary patterns were related to better mother-child health conditions, such as adequate GWG.

Patterns of energy balance-related behaviors and food insecurity in pregnant women

“…This approach allows to investigate the complexity of these behaviors, their synergistic and potentially deleterious effects 19 . Studies aiming identify patterns of behaviors in pregnant women focused exclusively on dietary patterns, while some of them have included physical activity as an exposure variable and not combined with food consumption to identified EBRB 24,25 . While few studies evaluated data driven food patterns in relation to FI 26,27 , from our knowledge, there are no studies focused on EBRB and FI in pregnant women.…”

Dietary and Nutrient Intake, Eating Habits, and Its Association with Maternal Gestational Weight Gain and Offspring’s Birth Weight in Pregnant Adolescents

“…A few studies have been conducted on adult women to analyze that relationship [ 24 , 25 , 26 ]. However, systematic reviews about this topic included only adult women [ 27 , 28 , 29 ]. We could not find any studies on the association of dietary and nutrient intake and eating habits with GWG and offspring’s birth weight in pregnant adolescents [ 29 ].…”