To update the Chinese diet balance index for pregnancy(DBI＿P), evaluate the dietary quality of pregnant women at different stages of pregnancy and analyze the influencing factors.
The DBI＿P was adjusted according to the recommended intake of various foods for pregnant women at different stages in the newly released Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents(2022) and and the balanced dietary pagoda for pregnant women. A total of 521 pregnant women in Taicang were investigated by questionnaire and 3-day food records method. Their basic information and food intake in the first, second and third trimester were collected. Low bound score(LBS), high bound score(HBS), diet quality distance(DQD) of DBI＿P were used to evaluate the dietary quality of each stage of pregnancy and multiple linear regression method was used to analyze the influencing factors of dietary quality.
There was insufficient intake of cereals, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, soy nuts, aquatic products and food categories at all stages of pregnancy. The intake of eggs was sufficient at each stage of pregnancy. The intake of meat and poultry was excessive at all stages of pregnancy. The proportion of pregnant women with insufficient vegetable intake in the first, second and third trimester all exceeded 70%. The proportion with insufficient daily food categories in each term was more than 90%. The proportion with excessive intake of meat and poultry increased from 74.5% in the first trimester to 84.1% in the third trimester. The mean of LBS in each stage of pregnancy were 16.0, 15.5 and 15.1, and the proportion with moderate to severe insufficient intake were 14.2%, 12.2% and 9.2%, respectively. The mean of HBS in each stage of pregnancy were 4.3, 4.8 and 4.9, and the proportion with moderate to severe excessive intake were 4.3%, 5.4% and 4.5%, respectively. The mean of DQD in each stage of pregnancy were 20.3, 20.3 and 20.0, and the proportion with moderate to severe imbalanced intake were 26.9%, 26.1% and 21.7%, respectively. The proportion of pregnant women with low imbalanced intake or balanced diet during the whole pregnancy was 51.1%. Compared with pregnant women under 25 years of age, pregnant women ≥25 years of age had a lower degree of insufficient and unbalanced dietary intake(β=-0.99, 95%CI-1.94–0.03). With the increase of education level, the degree of insufficient and unbalanced dietary intake of pregnant women showed a downward trend, while the degree of excessive intake increased only in college graduates(β=0.66, 95%CI 0.11-1.22). Compared with pregnant women living in rural areas, pregnant women living in urban areas had a lower degree of excessive dietary intake(β=-0.59, 95%CI-0.97–0.21).
The dietary structure of pregnant women in Taicang is imbalanced, and the dietary quality is affected by sociodemographic characteristics.