Dietary quality and mindful eating among pregnant women with and without gestational diabetes

Objective: The incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is increasing in parallel with maternal obesity. The main components of treatment are monitoring blood glucose levels with medical nutrition therapy and lifestyle modification in order to prevent short- and long-term materno-fetal complications. This study aimed to compare the diet quality and mindful eating among pregnant women with and without GDM. Methods: This case-control study included 68 pregnant women. Each participant was face-to-face interviewed using a structured questionnaire to obtain socio-demographic information, general health information, nutritional habits, and registered three days of food record. Mindful Eating Questionnaire (MEQ) and Healthy Eating Index (HEI) were applied in order to assess mindful eating and diet quality, respectively. Results: Mean pre-pregnancy body mass index of women was 27.42+5.44 kg/m2, 66.7% of the gestational diabetes group and 29.4% of the control group was obese. Differences in HEI adequacy subgroup scores between the groups were significant. Mean MEQ scores were 2.85±0.34 and 3.13±0.44 in pregnant women with gestational diabetes and control cases, respectively (r=0.61, p=0003, p<0.05). Conclusion: Our results showed that pregnant women with gestational diabetes had lower mindful eating and diet quality scores.