Maternal factors associated with habitual consumption of ultra-processed foods during pregnancy

Abstract

The scope of the study was to investigate the relationship between maternal sociode-mographic, obstetric and lifestyle characteristics and the habitual consumption of ultra-processed foods. It included a cross-sectional study of n = 784 pregnant women attended by the Unified Health System. Diet was estimated using two 24-hour recall surveys, using the multiple-pass method. Ultra-processed foods were classified using the UN NOVA food classification and their habitual consumption was expressed as the con-tribution to the total energy percentage. Adjusted linear regression models were used to investigate the relationship between maternal characteristics and the percentage of energy (%E) derived from ultra-processed foods. The %E of ultra-processed foods in the diet was 32.1%. Maternal age (-0.45[-0.62;-0.29] p < 0.001), economic bracket D+E in relation to A+B (-2.95[-5.59;-0.32] p = 0.03) and energy underreporting (-6.95[-8.86;-5.04] p < 0.001) were inversely associated with the %E of ultra-processed foods, whereas the pre-pregnan-cy Body Mass Index (BMI) (0.41[0.22; 0.60] p < 0.001) was directly associated. This would suggest that maternal age, economic status, energy un-derreporting and pre-gestational anthropometric status are associated with the consumption of ul-tra-processed foods during pregnancy.