Adherence of pregnant women to Nordic dietary guidelines in relation to postpartum weight retention: results from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study

Table 5 Association of single HEI component scores with postpartum weight retention and gestational weight gain (GWG)

Score component	Higher score reflects	Postpartum weight retention¹			Postpartum weight retention¹, + adjustment for GWG			GWG as intermediate outcome²
Score component	Higher score reflects	β³	SE	pvalue	β³	SE	pvalue	β³	SE	pvalue
*HEI-NFG*
Fresh fruits	Higher intake	0.0003	0.009	0.969	0.003	0.008	0.718	-0.007	0.011	0.486
Vegetables	Higher intake	0.004	0.011	0.711	-0.001	0.009	0.913	0.010	0.013	0.418
Whole-grain	Higher intake	-0.006	0.006	0.340	-0.001	0.005	0.796	-0.011	0.008	0.147
Fish	Higher adherence to recommendations⁴	-0.067	0.020	0.001	-0.051	0.017	0.003	-0.039	0.024	0.109
Fatty fish	Higher adherence to recommendations⁴	-0.002	0.018	0.913	0.019	0.015	0.209	-0.049	0.022	0.024
Red meat	Lower intake	-0.029	0.018	0.104	-0.013	0.015	0.402	-0.039	0.022	0.074
Sodium	Lower intake	-0.025	0.030	0.409	0.044	0.026	0.091	-0.160	0.037	< 0.0001
Added sugar	Lower intake	0.022	0.016	0.172	-0.018	0.014	0.207	0.091	0.020	< 0.0001
*HEI-NNR*
Total fat	Higher adherence to recommendations⁴	-0.015	0.110	0.890	-0.196	0.094	0.038	0.410	0.134	0.002
SFA + TFA	Lower intake	-0.111	0.053	0.034	0.019	0.045	0.670	-0.303	0.064	< 0.0001
MUFA	Higher adherence to recommendations⁴	0.056	0.069	0.417	0.138	0.059	0.020	-0.197	0.084	0.019
PUFA	Higher adherence to recommendations⁴	0.017	0.063	0.788	-0.066	0.053	0.218	0.201	0.076	0.008
Fibre	Higher intake	-0.009	0.025	0.708	-0.037	0.021	0.083	0.058	0.030	0.053
Added sugar	Lower intake	0.020	0.015	0.170	-0.025	0.013	0.044	0.104	0.018	< 0.0001
Total protein	Higher adherence to recommendations⁴	-0.112	0.202	0.578	-0.045	0.172	0.794	-0.168	0.244	0.491

Abbreviations: HEI Healthy Eating Index, MUFA Monounsaturated Fat, NFG Norwegian Food Guidelines, NNR Nordic Nutrition Recommendations, PUFA Polyunsaturated Fat, SE Standard Error, SFA + TFA Saturated and Trans Fat.
¹ Score components were mutually adjusted within a linear regression model, that was further adjusted for maternal age, maternal education, household income, marital status, pre-pregnancy BMI, parity, weight of the child at birth, breastfeeding duration up to 6 months postpartum, total energy intake, exercise during pregnancy (week 15), smoking during pregnancy, alcohol intake during pregnancy (week 22).
²Analogous model but without adjustment for breastfeeding duration.
³β-coefficient denotes change in weight retention at 6 months postpartum (in kg) per 1-point-increment of each HEI component score.
⁴Too low as well as too high intake results in a deduction of points.

ISSN: 1471-2458