Dietary restraint and weight gain during pregnancy

Abstract

Objectives: To explore dietary intake and weight gain during pregnancy in relation to dietary restraint. Design: Longitudinal prospective study. Attitudes to weight gain during pregnancy were assessed using selfadministered questionnaires and dietary intake by 7-d weighed diet records in early and late pregnancy. Setting: South West London 1995 ± 1996. Subjects: 74 Caucasian pregnant women expecting their ®rst or second baby were recruited through a London hospital and data from 62 women were analysed. Results: Restrained eaters were signi®cantly less likely to experience weight gains within the recommended range for their pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) (P 0.026). They gained either more or less weight than recommended. Conclusions: Dietary restraint appears to have undesirable in¯uences on eating and weight gain during pregnancy which require further attention. Sponsorship: South Bank University and Cow and Gate Nutricia Ltd. provided ®nancial assistance for this project.

Association of Restraint and Disinhibition to Gestational Weight Gain among Pregnant Former Smokers

“…Results suggest that dietary restraint, an eating behavior that has been associated with weight changes outside of pregnancy (Hays & Roberts, 2008; Heatherton et al, 1991; Latner et al, 2007; Lawson et al, 1995), is related to GWG. Although previous studies have indicated a relationship between pre-pregnancy restraint and excessive GWG (Conway et al, 1999; Mumford et al, 2008), the present findings highlight the role of dietary restraint during pregnancy on GWG.…”

“…Restraint also tends to increase during pregnancy (Fairburn, Stein, & Jones, 1992). Interestingly, although the restraint tends to be inversely correlated with weight gain, and thus might be related to lower GWG, elevated dietary restraint prior to pregnancy has been associated with excessive GWG (Conway et al, 1999; Mumford et al, 2008). However, the relationship between restrained eating and GWG has not been studied during pregnancy, only prior.…”

“…Given that restraint prior to pregnancy is associated with excessive GWG (Conway et al, 1999; Mumford et al, 2008), we hypothesized that dietary restraint would be positively associated with greater GWG. We also predicted that disinhibition would be associated with greater GWG because of the relationship between binge eating and greater GWG (Nunes et al, 2012; Soares et al, 2009) and the strong correlation between binge eating and disinhibition (d’Amore et al, 2001).…”

Pickles and ice cream! Food cravings in pregnancy: hypotheses, preliminary evidence, and directions for future research

“…The frequency of binge eating during pregnancy has significant effects on the mother’s health, particularly regarding GWG (Soares et al, 2009). Caucasian women deemed restrained eaters (i.e., those who frequently think about their diet and weight and make attempts to restrict their dietary intake) are significantly more likely than unrestrained eaters to exceed guidelines for recommended GWG (Conway et al, 1999), a finding that supports the hypothesis that pregnancy acts as a time for women to legitimize seemingly excessive food intake, disregarding any previous attitudes and intentions to eat less (Clark and Ogden, 1999). Similar to restrained eaters, dieters 4 have also been found to endorse more episodes of overeating during pregnancy, compared to non-dieters (Fairburn and Welch, 1990).…”

“…Interestingly, the idea that pregnancy is a time when one does not need to feel accountable for one’s food intake, (i.e., a time of disinhibition), has been found to be most commonly endorsed by women classified as habitual dieters prior to pregnancy (Fairburn et al, 1992; Clark and Ogden, 1999; Mumford et al, 2008). Of note, it has been suggested that continuous pregravid dieting may affect the women’s ability to accurately distinguish hunger and satiety cues, which may contribute to excess energy intake in pregnancy (Mela and Rogers, 1998; Conway et al, 1999; Mumford et al, 2008). …”