Maternal dietary indexes are not linked to early childhood wheezing or atopic eczema

BACKGROUND

Several recent studies have investigated the association between maternal diet during pregnancy and wheezing or asthma in children. However, whether a specific dietary pattern during pregnancy protects children from wheezing or atopic diseases remains unclear. This study investigated the association between The Alternative Healthy Eating Index for Pregnancy (AHEI-P), the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII), and the risk for wheezing and atopic eczema in children during the first year of life.

METHODS

This study included 1330 mother-child pairs who attended the Kuopio Birth Cohort (KuBiCo) study and had dietary information during the last trimester and information on children's health in the first year of life. AHEI-P and DII indicate a healthy diet and dietary inflammation potential during pregnancy. The AHEI-P and DII were compared with reported wheezing and doctor-diagnosed atopic eczema in children during the first year of life.

RESULTS

Neither AHEI-P nor DII is associated with wheezing or atopic eczema in children when analyzed by continuous variables and by tertiles. The odds ratio (95% CI) for AHEI-P and wheezing was 0.99 (0.98-1.01), for AHEI-P and atopic eczema1.01 (0.99-1.02), for DII and wheezing 1.02 (0.95-1.09), and for DII and atopic eczema 0.97 (0.91-1.04).

CONCLUSION

In this cohort study, AHEI-P and DII during pregnancy were not associated with wheezing or atopic eczema in the offspring during the first year of life.

Comparing the Diagnostic Accuracy of Measures of Maternal Diet During Pregnancy for Offspring Allergy Outcomes: The Healthy Start Study

BACKGROUND

Allergic diseases in children are increasing. Although maternal diet quality in pregnancy may be protective, it is unclear which measure of maternal diet best predicts offspring diseases.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the associations between multiple diet measures and allergy outcomes, and to compare the diagnostic accuracy of the measures for the prediction of allergy outcomes.

METHODS

Maternal diet during pregnancy was measured using a validated instrument, and scored using 5 measures: the maternal diet index (MDI), Healthy Eating Index, total diet diversity, healthy diet diversity, and unhealthy diet diversity. Unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression models assessed associations between maternal diet measures and offspring allergy outcomes up to age 4 years. The diagnostic accuracy of the diet measures was compared.

RESULTS

There were significant associations between MDI (odds ratio [OR], 0.78; 95% CI, 0.70-0.87), Healthy Eating Index (OR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.97-0.99), and healthy diet diversity scores (OR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.85-0.98) during pregnancy and the primary combined outcome "any allergy excluding wheeze" in children up to age 4 years. Neither maternal total diet diversity (OR, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.95-1.03) nor unhealthy diet diversity scores (OR, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.98-1.13) were associated with the "any allergy excluding wheeze" outcome. For all outcomes studied, except for food allergy, there was a significant difference in the diagnostic accuracy between the 5 measures of maternal diet. The area under the curve for MDI was highest for every disease outcome, although not always significantly higher.

CONCLUSIONS

Better quality and higher diversity of a woman's diet during pregnancy, measured in various ways, is associated with offspring allergy outcomes, with healthy foods associated with decreased risk, and unhealthy foods associated with a higher risk. The MDI, which appropriately weighted both healthy and unhealthy foods, best predicted childhood allergic disease.

Maternal Dietary Patterns during Pregnancy and Child Autism-Related Traits: Results from Two US Cohorts

We examined the relationship between maternal intake of established dietary patterns and child autism-related outcomes in two prospective cohorts in the United States. Participants were drawn from the Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigation (EARLI, n = 154) and the Nurses' Health Study II (NHSII, n = 727). Dietary information was collected via food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) and used to calculate the empirical dietary inflammatory pattern (EDIP), Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), Western and Prudent dietary patterns, and the alternative Mediterranean Diet (aMED) score. Primary analyses examined associations with continuous autism-related traits as measured by the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), and secondary analyses with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis. We used crude and multivariable quantile regression fixed at the 50th percentile to examine associations between quartiles of dietary patterns and SRS scores, and logistic regression to examine associations with ASD diagnosis. There was suggestion of a positive association with the Western diet (Q4 vs. Q1, ß = 11.19, 95% CI: 3.30, 19.90) in EARLI, though the association was attenuated with adjustment for total energy intake, and no clear associations were observed with other dietary patterns and ASD diagnosis or SRS scores. Further work is needed to better understand the role of maternal dietary patterns in ASD and related outcomes.