In a recent article published in the journal Nutrientsresearchers assessed how gestational weight gain (GWG) is related to the eating behaviors of pregnant women and their nonpregnant partners through a cohort study in the United States.
Their results show that poor cognitive limitation was associated with higher GWG, suggesting that restrained eating by couples could reduce GWG and thereby the risk of infant macrosomia, caesarean section, preeclampsia and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).
Study: Healthy eating behaviors among couples contribute to lower weight gain during pregnancy. Image credit: El Nariz / Shutterstock
Record
Excess GWG is associated with increased risks of infant macrosomia, preeclampsia, caesarean section, and GDM. It is also associated with prenatal body mass index (BMI), and nutrition-focused interventions during pregnancy are effective in reducing GWG.
Although pregnancy is often associated with eating more and snacking, less is known about which eating behaviors may contribute to excess GWG. The effect of the non-pregnant partner’s eating habits has also not been studied.
About the study
In this study, the researchers considered that the non-pregnant partner can influence food consumption at home and encourage healthy eating behaviors and eating habits during pregnancy.
They hypothesized that the couple’s behaviors would be most strongly associated with GWG, followed by the behaviors of the pregnant woman alone. They expected to see the weakest relationship between the non-pregnant person’s behaviors and GWG.
Pregnant women included in the study had a BMI between 18.5 and 35, were over 21 years old, had only one other child, and were either planning to become pregnant or less than 10 weeks’ gestation.
People receiving fertility treatments, with existing medical conditions, taking drugs such as insulin that could affect fetal development, drinking alcohol or smoking during pregnancy were excluded.
Demographic factors such as marital status, age, ethnicity and race, individual income, and educational attainment were included. The pregnant woman’s weight and GWG were measured during the first and third trimesters, while the partner’s weight was measured once. Weight and height were used to calculate BMI, while GWG was classified as normal, overweight or obese.
A food inventory was used to assess eating behaviors and attitudes, such as perceived hunger, eating inhibition, and cognitive restraint. A higher score for each of these components indicated poorer eating behavior. A pair’s score was calculated as the average of the two individual scores.
The perceived hunger component is scored between 0 and 14, assessing how sensitive a person is to feelings of hunger, while eating inhibition (0-18) assesses the tendency to overeat palatable foods. The cognitive restraint component (0-21) examines a person’s ability to limit food intake to maintain weight.
In data analysis, fitted general linear models were used to examine statistical associations and odds ratios were calculated.
Foundings
The study included 218 pregnant women (mean age 30.3) and 157 non-pregnant partners (mean age 31.4). The average BMI for the pregnant women was 26.1, while the partners had an average BMI of 28.5. Non-pregnant partners were more likely to be obese, earn more than USD 40,000, and be at least a college graduate.
For the entire cohort, the mean GWG was 11.8 kg, and almost half showed excess GWG. Only one in three pregnant women of normal weight had excess GWG compared to 63% of overweight subjects and 52.2% of obese subjects.
Nearly 57%, 86%, and 89% of pregnant participants scored low on the components of cognitive restriction, eating inhibition, and perceived hunger, respectively. People of normal weight were more likely to receive low scores. Non-pregnant partners scored, on average, lower scores than their partners, indicating healthier eating habits.
Results from the unadjusted models indicated that higher scores on each of the items were associated with higher GWG. The association remained significant for the cognitive limitation score after adjusting for early pregnancy BMI and demographic factors.
There were no significant associations between non-pregnant partner scores and GWG. However, there was a significant positive correlation between a couple’s score for cognitive limitation and GWG. Specifically, if cognitive limitation increased by one unit, GWG increased, on average, by 0.23 kg. this finding remained after adjusting for BMI and demographic factors.
conclusions
Findings from this study show that cohesive partnerships can promote better eating behaviors and lead to optimal GWG. The conclusion is that involving both partners in nutritional interventions could lead to better outcomes than targeting the pregnant woman alone.
A limitation of this study is that it did not assess dietary or energy intake, which could be predicted by eating behavior. Sleep and physical activity, which may both contribute to GWG, were also not considered in this analysis.
