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Follow one Mediterranean diet during the pregnancy is associated with a lower risk of developing preeclampsiaaccording to new research published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the journal of the American Heart Association.
Previous studies have found that following a Mediterranean diet, which consists primarily of eating vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, olive oil, whole grains, and fish, reduces the risk of heart disease in adults.
Preeclampsia, a pathology during pregnancy characterized by high blood pressure severe and liver or kidney damage, is one of the main causes of complications and death for the mother and the fetus. It also more than doubles a woman’s later risk of heart disease, such as high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, or heart failure.
Women with pre-eclampsia are at increased risk of preterm birth (giving birth before 37 weeks of gestation) or low birth weight babies, and children born to mothers with pre-eclampsia are also at increased risk of developing high blood pressure and heart disease.
Research on possible treatments for high-risk women is limited, according to the study’s investigators. So they decided to look at the potential influence of a Mediterranean-style diet among a large group of women of various races and ethnicities who are at high risk of preeclampsia.
“The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed countries, and preeclampsia contributes to that,” says Anum S. Minhas, chief of cardiology and fellow for cardio-obstetrics and advanced imaging at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. “Given these dangers to the health of both mothers and their children, it is important identify modifiable factors to prevent the development of preeclampsia, especially among black women who are at highest risk for this serious complication of pregnancy.”
This study included data from more than 8,500 women enrolled between 1998 and 2016 in the Boston Birth Cohort. The median age of the participants was 25 years and they were recruited at the Boston Medical Center, which serves a predominantly urban, low-income, and underrepresented racial and ethnic population. Nearly half of the participants were black women (47%), about a quarter were Hispanic women (28%), and the remainder were white or other women, based on self-reported postpartum questionnaire. The researchers created a Mediterranean-style diet score based on participants’ responses to food frequency interviews and questionnaires, which were completed within three days of delivery.
The analysis found that 10% of the study participants developed preeclampsia. Women who had some kind of diabetes or obesity Before pregnancy they had double the odds of developing pre-eclampsia compared with women without these conditions.
However, the risk was more than 20% lower among women who followed a Mediterranean-style diet during pregnancy.
“We were surprised that women who most frequently ate Mediterranean diet foods were significantly less likely to develop preeclampsia, with black women experiencing the greatest risk reduction,” Minhas said. “This is remarkable because there are very few interventions during pregnancy that produce significant benefit, and medical treatments at this stage need to be approached cautiously to ensure that the benefits outweigh the potential risks to the mother and fetus,” she adds.
In the expert’s opinion, women should be “encouraged to follow a healthy lifestyle, including a nutritious diet and regular exercise, at all stages of life. Eating healthy foods regularly, including vegetables, fruits, and legumes, is especially important for women during pregnancy. Your health during pregnancy affects your future cardiovascular health, and it also affects the health of your baby.”
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