Abstract
Background
Little is known about the relationships between pregnancy cravings, maternal diet,
and development of abnormal glucose tolerance.
Objectives
We examined relationships of pregnancy cravings with dietary intake and risk of developing
isolated hyperglycemia (IH), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), or gestational diabetes
(GDM) later in pregnancy.
Design/setting
Among 2,022 mothers in Project Viva, a prospective birth cohort recruited from medical
practices in eastern Massachusetts between 1999 and 2002, we assessed type of pregnancy
craving based on self-report at mean gestation of 10.9 weeks.
Main outcome measures
The outcomes were cross-sectional dietary intake from a food frequency questionnaire
and incident IH, IGT, or GDM determined by glucose tolerance screening at 26 to 28
weeks.
Statistical analyses performed
We used linear regression to analyze the cross-sectional relationships between pregnancy
cravings and dietary intake and multinomial logistic regression to analyze the prospective
relationships among pregnancy cravings and development of IH, IGT, or GDM.
Results
During the first trimester, 443 (22%) women craved sweets, 225 (11%) craved salty
foods, 261 (13%) craved savory foods, and 100 (4.9%) craved starchy foods. Sweet cravings
were associated with increased intake of sucrose (1.9 g/day; 95% CI 0.1 to 3.7), total
fat (1.5 g/day; 95% CI 0.1 to 2.9), and saturated fat (0.8 g/day; 95% CI 0.2 to 1.4);
salty cravings were associated with increased fiber (0.7 servings/day; 95% CI –0.1
to 1.6); savory cravings were associated with increased n-3 fatty acids (0.10 g/day;
95% CI 0.02 to 0.17); and starchy cravings were associated with increased carbohydrates
(8.0 g/day; 95% CI 0.3 to 15.7) and decreased total fat (–2.6 g/day; 95% CI –5.2 to
–0.1). Salty cravings were associated with lower risk of GDM (adjusted odds ratio
0.34, 95% CI 0.12-0.97).
Conclusions
New cravings in the first trimester of pregnancy were associated with dietary intake.
Craving salty foods may predict reduced risk of developing GDM, whereas craving sweet
food does not appear to alter one’s risk.
Keywords
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Biography
L. V. Farland is a doctoral candidate, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA.
Biography
S. L. Rifas-Shiman is a senior research associate, Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, MA.
Biography
M. W. Gillman is a professor and director of the Obesity Prevention Program, Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, MA.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 20, 2015
Accepted:
April 21,
2015
Received:
November 19,
2014
Footnotes
Supplemental materials: Table 3 is available online at www.andjrnl.org
STATEMENT OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST M. W. Gillman receives royalties from Cambridge University Press as coeditor of the book, Maternal Obesity, and also from UpToDate as the author of the chapter on dietary fat. No potential conflict of interest was reported by the other authors.
FUNDING/SUPPORT This research was supported by National Institutes of Health grant no. R37HD034568. L. V. Farland has been partially supported through Maternal and Child Bureau grant no. T76MC00001 and by Training Grant T32HD060454 in Reproductive, Perinatal, and Pediatric Epidemiology from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
