Influence of Food Security Status and Diet Quality on Maternal Gestational Weight Gain.
Joshua R Sparks, Candice A Myers, Suzanne Phelan and 3 others
PMID 38553830WHAT IT FOUND
Food insecurity did not raise the chance of excess pregnancy weight gain.
Food insecure women had lower total weight gain and poorer diet quality; diet quality related to gain only in some food secure women.
Key findings
01Food insecurity and poorer diet quality were not associated with significantly higher odds of excess gestational weight gain.
02Food insecure women had lower total gestational weight gain and poorer diet quality than food secure women, but calorie intake did not differ.
03In food secure women, higher diet quality was associated with lower gestational weight gain in those with overweight and with higher gain in those with inadequate gain.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was a secondary analysis of existing observational data, so it cannot show that food insecurity or diet quality caused differences in gestational weight gain. Only 127 of 679 women were food insecure, and marginal food security was combined with food insecurity. Only 3 women had a healthy diet quality, so diet-quality categories were collapsed. Gestational age data were not available, so weight gain could not be adjusted for how far along pregnancy was at each measurement. Pre-pregnancy weight was sometimes self-reported or from records, not always measured. Underweight women were excluded from analysis. The data were collected by 2012.
Declared interests
The authors reported no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that food insecurity causes lower gestational weight gain or that improving diet quality will correct weight gain. This was an observational analysis, and food insecurity was not associated with excess weight gain; diet quality related to weight gain only in some food secure women.