Dietary patterns in pregnant adolescents

Abstract

Introduction: Adolescence and pregnancy increase nutritional needs. Pregnant adolescents have higher energy requirements to maintain maternal health and ensure adequate fetal growth and development. Aim: Identify patterns of diet consumption among Pregnant adolescents. Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional study between November 2014 and July 2016 among teenage mothers. Food intake was analyzed using asemiquantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). We identified the food patterns as a posteriori using cluster analysis. Results: 294 adolescents participated in the study. The mean age was 17.83 ± 1.29 years. Sixty-five percent of participants self-declared as Caucasian and 83.3% were primiparous. Pregestational BMI was 23.71 ± 5.04 kg/m2 , and 42.9% of the sample showed excessive weight gain during pregnancy. Two food patterns were identified, labeled as Traditional Diet and Junk Food. The Traditional Diet was characterized by a higher intake of protein (p = 0.03), magnesium, folate, iron (p ≤ 0.0001), and potassium (p = 0.005). In comparison, the Junk Food pattern had a higher intake of total fat (p ≤ 0.0001). We did not find significant associations between eating patterns and sociodemographic variables or pre-gestational BMI. Conclusion: The study confirmed that pregnant teenagers tend to adopt the food pattern Junk Food, regardless of sociodemographic aspects.