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Research Project: Improving Nutrition and Physical Activity Related Health Behaviors in Children and Their Environment

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Title: Associations among maternal nutrition and infant birth outcomes in a cohort of pregnant, primarily African American, rural, Southern women: Delta Healthy Sprouts

Author
item Thomson, Jessica
item TUSSING-HUMPHREYS, LISA M - University Of Chicago
item Goodman, Melissa

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/2/2015
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Background and aims: At no point during a woman’s life is good nutrition more important than during her reproductive years as her dietary choices affect not only her health but also that of her child. Delta Healthy Sprouts is a randomized, controlled, comparative trial testing the impact of two Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting programs on health behaviors of mothers and their infants residing in the rural Mississippi Delta. Methods: Usual maternal dietary intake was calculated based on three 24-hour gestational dietary recalls. Descriptive statistics for macro- and micronutrients of interest were calculated. Canonical and stepwise discriminant analysis were used to explore associations between dietary intake and adverse infant birth outcomes – premature birth, low birth weight, and small and large for gestational age. Results: Based on median amounts, at least half the maternal diets met recommendations for total fat, cholesterol, folate, iron, and vitamin D. However, less than half the maternal diets met recommendations for saturated fatty acids, fiber, sodium, calcium, vitamin C, or choline. Discriminant analysis yielded potential associations between lower optimal maternal nutrition and premature birth, low birth weight, and small for gestational age infants. Conversely, higher optimal maternal nutrition was associated with large for gestational age infants. Conclusions: Exploratory analyses revealed that lower optimal maternal nutrition during gestation was associated with some, but not all, adverse infant birth outcomes in this cohort of rural, Southern, primarily African American women.