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Maternal nutrition, infants and children

Maternal nutrient intakes and levels of energy underreporting during early pregnancy

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

Pregnancy is a critical period in a woman's life where nutrition is of key importance for optimal pregnancy outcome. The aim of this study was to assess maternal nutrient intakes during early pregnancy and to examine potential levels of energy underreporting.

Subjects/Methods:

Three-day food diaries were collected from 260 healthy pregnant women sampled from the control arm of a large Irish pregnancy cohort at 14 weeks gestation (range 12–20 weeks).

Results:

Up to 45% of pregnant women may be underreporting daily energy intake (EI). Multiple logistic regression analysis found that having a body mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m2 compared with a BMI <25 kg/m2 (odds ratio, 4.4; 95% confidence interval, 2.5–7.7) was the main predictor of energy underreporting. Educational attainment is also an important predictor of energy underreporting. Women who underreport their EI tend to be less compliant with the current dietary recommendations for pregnancy.

Conclusions:

These data highlight the need for more education and public health interventions among pregnant women to achieve current dietary guidelines. In the analysis of dietary intakes, removal of extreme under reporters (Goldberg's ratio <0.9) may allow for more accurate assessment of nutritional intakes amongst pregnant women.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge Dr Tim Grant for his assistance with statistical analysis. This research is financially supported by the Health Research Board, Ireland.

Ethical approval

Approval to conduct this research was obtained from the Research and Ethics Committee of the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, Dublin, Ireland.

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Correspondence to C A McGowan.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Contributors: CAM was involved in patient recruitment for this study, entry and analysis of the dietary data and wrote the manuscript. FMM investigated the study and contributed to the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final draft.

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McGowan, C., McAuliffe, F. Maternal nutrient intakes and levels of energy underreporting during early pregnancy. Eur J Clin Nutr 66, 906–913 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2012.15

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