Dietary Quality During Adolescence is Associated With Mother's Dietary Quality During Pregnancy

Background: Dietary exposures in fetal life may have long lasting impact on the individual's susceptibility for several non-communicable diseases. Although offspring's own dietary habits become increasingly independent from parental influence other external factors are likely to exist. Further insights are needed to interpret and separate potential influence from exposures in pregnancy from later dietary habits on later disease risk.

Objectives: We will examine the association between diet quality in offspring at age 14 years and maternal diet quality during pregnancy in the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC).

Design: A total of 19620 DNBC offspring-mother pairs will be matched by offspring dietary intake assessed at age ~14 years with a 150-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and dietary intake assessed with a 300-item FFQ during mid-pregnancy (1996-2003). A Healthy Eating Index (HEI) will be developed as an indicator for diet quality based on current Danish Food-Based Dietary Guidelines including 8 components; fruit and vegetables, fish, dietary fibers, red meat, saturated fatty acids, sodium, sugar-sweetened beverages, and added sugar.