Sticking to a Mediterranean diet protects against pre-eclampsia

Pregnant women with higher adherence to a Mediterranean‐style diet are at lower risk of pre-eclampsia, with the benefit observed among Black and White women, a study has found.

The study used data from the Boston Birth Cohort and included 8,507 women (47 percent Black, 28 percent Hispanic, 25 percent White). The participants were interviewed and completed a food frequency questionnaire within 24 to 72 hours postpartum to provide sociodemographic and dietary data. Additional clinical information, including physician diagnoses of pre-existing conditions and pre-eclampsia, were obtained from medical records.

Researchers created a Mediterranean‐style diet score (MSDS) from the food frequency questionnaire and performed logistic regression to evaluate adherence to the Mediterranean diet in relation to the risk of pre-eclampsia.

Women in the highest tertile of MSDS were older, more likely to be parous and married, less likely to have obesity and diabetes prior to pregnancy and less likely to have a college education. There were 848 (10 percent) women who developed pre-eclampsia. The corresponding rates were 11 percent among women in the lowest MSDS tertile, 9 percent in the middle tertile, and 10 percent in the highest tertile.

The highest vs lowest MSDS tertile was associated with a lower likelihood of pre-eclampsia (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 0.78, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.64–0.96).

A subgroup analysis of Black women demonstrated a similar benefit, with higher adherence to the diet conferring some protection against the risk of pre-eclampsia (adjusted OR, 0.74, 95 percent CI, 0.76–0.96).