2023-07-27 11:38:12
Updated Thursday, July 27, 2023 – 11:38
Anxiety disorders and stress are becoming more frequent in pregnant women and it is estimated that 1 in 5 future mothers may suffer from them.
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A study shows that pregnant women who follow the Mediterranean diet have a reduction between 25 and 28% in anxiety levels, while having better well-being and sleep quality.
The study was led by researchers from the Hospital Clnic and of the August Pi Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS)with the support of the “la Caixa” Foundation.
From previous studies, the benefits in the general population of the Mediterranean diet, which promotes the intake of plant foods rich in antioxidants (fruits, vegetables, extra virgin olive oil and whole grains), are widely known, but this is the first trial that evaluates it and demonstrates it in pregnant women.
Anxiety and stress disorders are becoming more frequent in pregnant women and it is estimated that 1 in 5 future mothers can suffer from them.
The new study is a second part of the IMPACT project, which has already shown that the Mediterranean diet or mindfulness (meditative techniques to relax) during pregnancy reduce the risk of having a low-weight baby by up to a third.
Now researchers have focused on anxiety and have studied 1,221 high-risk pregnant womenrandomly distributed in different groups at 19-23 weeks of gestation.
The first group was monitored by nutritionists, who encouraged the pregnant women to increase their intake of cereals (5 servings per day), vegetables and dairy products (3 servings per day), fresh fruit (2 servings per day), legumes, nuts , fish and white meat (3 servings a week), as well as the use of olive oil for cooking and seasoning.
The second group, on the other hand, received the usual care during a pregnancy, without special intervention in nutrition.
According to data published in the journal Nutrientsthe intervention based on the Mediterranean diet reduced between 25 and 28% maternal anxiety and stress, in addition to improving the well-being and quality of sleep of pregnant women, if the data are compared with the group that did not receive any intervention. .
The researchers came to this conclusion after analyzing the stress questionnaires the participants answered and measuring the levels of stress-related metabolites, such as cortisol and cortisone, in urine samples.
The study also concludes that the beneficial effects They appear shortly after the start of the intervention to follow the Mediterranean diet.
The project has received funding from the La Caixa Foundation, the Cerebra Foundation for the Brain Injured Child, the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR), the Carlos III Health Institute, the University of Barcelona and the Research Center Biomedical Network on Rare Diseases (CIBERER) Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN) and Mental Health (CIBERSAM).
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