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Is there a relationship between children's behaviour and food cravings during pregnancy?

OBJECTIVES: Food craving is a well-known phenomenon during pregnancy that is driven by nutritional requirements for optimal foetal development. This mechanism plays a vital role in ensuring normal prenatal and postnatal development. The goal of the present study is to assess whether cravings experie...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Al-Mehaisen, Lama M., Al-Husban, Naser A., Matalka, Alaa I., Al-Kuran, Oqba A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Taibah University 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6694992/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31435376
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtumed.2018.09.004
Descripción
Sumario:OBJECTIVES: Food craving is a well-known phenomenon during pregnancy that is driven by nutritional requirements for optimal foetal development. This mechanism plays a vital role in ensuring normal prenatal and postnatal development. The goal of the present study is to assess whether cravings experienced during pregnancy are related to children's behaviour. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted in the gynaecology outpatient unit of a local hospital on healthy non-pregnant women, with children aged between 18 months and 5 years. Eligible women completed a questionnaire regarding their child's behaviours and cravings experienced during their pregnancy. Chi-square tests were used to examine relationships between cravings and behaviour. RESULTS: A total of 336 women were included in the study (child mean age = 44.11 ± 15.65 months; 55.7% females). Food cravings were experienced by 83.1% (n = 304/366) of the participants. The most commonly reported food craving was for fruit (n = 112, 33.3%). Other cravings included salty crackers (n = 40, 10.9%), sweets (n = 35, 9.6%), meat (n = 32, 8.7%), and vegetables (n = 29, 7.9%). There was variation in frequency of the children's behavioural problems: always (more than 50% of the occasions), sometimes (10–50% of the occasions), and none. CONCLUSIONS: Our analyses showed that most behavioural issues were not associated with cravings during pregnancy. Further investigation into how diet and foetal development may impact childhood behaviour is warranted.