Second The results of a large new study, women who follow a Mediterranean-style diet, rich in fresh foods, fish and olive oil, at the time of conception have a lower risk of developing a pregnancy complication.
The study included 7,798 women who had not given birth previously. The group was geographically diverse, racially and ethnically.
The researchers, led by Nour Makarem, PhD, MS, of the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University, New York, published the results at JAMA Network Open.
«In general, higher consumption of vegetables, fruits, legumes, fish and whole grains, and lower consumption of red and processed meat were associated with a lower risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs),» the authors write.
The investigators noted that the women included in the study, participants in the Nulliparous Pregnancy Outcomes: Monitoring Mothers-to-Be, which enrolled 10,038 women between October 1, 2010 and September 30, 2013, and who scored highly in terms of adherence to a Mediterranean diet, had a 21% lower risk of developing any APO than those with low adherence.The better the adherence, the lower the risk of APO, particularly preeclampsia or eclampsia and gestational diabetes, the researchers write.
The research team also examined how following the diet was related to gestational hypertension, preterm birth, delivery of a small infant for gestational age, and stillbirth.
The women were scored based on the consumption of nine components: vegetables (excluding potatoes), fruits, nuts, whole grains, legumes, fish, the ratio of monounsaturated to saturated fats, red and processed meats and alcohol.
According to the article, no differences in APOs were observed based on race, ethnicity, or body mass index of the woman before pregnancy, but associations were strongest in women aged 35 years and older.
The authors pointed out that the women in the study had access to prenatal care at a large university medical center during the first 3 months of pregnancy; The study could therefore in fact underestimate the importance of diet in pregnancy outcomes.
Dr. Christina Han, director of the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the study, says the findings make sense, because the researchers looked at the time of conception, a time that reflects how a person chooses to live their lives.
«We know that health at the beginning of pregnancy can significantly affect pregnancy outcomes,» she says.»It has been known for decades that the Mediterranean diet is good for virtually everyone.»
Dr. Han says that while it’s great that researchers have been able to confirm the benefit of the Mediterranean diet, it highlights inequalities, because low-income people can’t afford fresh fruit, vegetables and fish.
«This is a call to arms for our food distribution system to bridge the large gap in products that patients have access to,» says Dr. Han.
He notes that the majority of women in this study were married, non-Hispanic Caucasian, and with higher levels of education, possibly making it more difficult to generalize these findings to the general population.
One limitation of the study is that women were asked to independently report what they ate, an approach that may be less accurate than researchers recording meals in a controlled setting.
The researchers suggest the next step: «Long-term intervention studies are needed to assess whether promoting a Mediterranean-style diet around conception and throughout pregnancy can prevent APOs.»
The article is an adaptation of the original, written by Marcia Frellick, which appeared on MDedge.com, part of Medscape Professional Network.
Access to the site is restricted and reserved for healthcare professionals
You have reached the maximum number of visits
Source — https://www.univadis.it/viewarticle/la-dieta-mediterranea-associata-a-meno-complicanze-della-gravidanza