Assistant Professor University of California, Irvine Irvine, California, United States
Disclosure(s):
Karen Lindsay, PhD, RD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Objectives: Previous studies have reported null associations between food security status and diet quality in pregnancy, but the association between prenatal food security status and eating behaviors has not yet been assessed. The objective of this study is to assess the relationship between food security status, diet quality and eating behaviors among a predominantly Hispanic pregnant cohort with overweight or obesity.
Methods: In this cross sectional study, n=74 adult pregnant people with a pre-pregnancy body mass index ≥25 kg/m2 were recruited at 18-22 weeks’ gestation. Participants completed the 6-item USDA Food Security Scale and the Three-factor Eating Questionnaire, which assesses domains of Uncontrolled Eating, Restrained Eating and Emotional Eating. Diet quality was characterized by the Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2015, computed from 24-hr dietary recalls conducted on 2-3 non-consecutive days. General linear models were used to test differences in eating behaviors and HEI-2015 across food secure and insecure groups.
Results: Participants had mean±SD age 28.0±5.5 years, body mass index 30.3±3.8 kg/m2, 84% identified as Hispanic, and 36.6% were foreign born. Twenty-two percent were classified as having food insecurity. Dietary recall data were available from n=63 participants and the mean HEI-2015 score was 57.9±11.3. No demographic factors were associated with food security status, and only maternal age positively correlated with HEI-2015. There was no difference in HEI-2015 according to food security status, before or after adjusting for age. Compared to food secure individuals, those with food insecurity were significantly more likely to experience uncontrolled (17.1±5.0 vs 20.9±5.6, p=0.019) and emotional (10.5±4.4 vs 13.9±5.7, p=0.017) eating behaviors. Adjusting for HEI-2015, this difference remained significant for uncontrolled eating behavior (p=0.026), but not for emotional eating behavior (p=0.075).
Conclusions: Food security status was not associated with overall diet quality in this sample of predominantly Hispanic pregnant people. However, food insecurity was associated with higher levels of uncontrolled and emotional eating behaviors. The effects of such eating behaviors on pregnancy and offspring outcomes requires further study.
Funding Sources: Funding support from National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
