Gestational Health Outcomes Among Pregnant Women in the United States by Level of Dairy Consumption and Quality of Diet, NHANES 2003–2016

OBJECTIVES: Diet is an important factor in gestational health. Many pregnant women have suboptimal diets and dairy foods are an excellent source of key nutrients. The aim of this work was to investigate the relationships between dairy consumption (cup equivalents/day) or diet quality assessed using the Healthy Eating Index-2015 and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) or gestational weight gain (GWG) among pregnant women in the United States (US). METHODS: Study populations were subsets of pregnant, non-lactating women (20–44 years) in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 2003–2016, which was approved by the National Center for Health Statistics Research Ethics Review Board. GDM and GWG were classified according to national guidelines. General characteristics were compared across categories of dietary variables. Adjusted regression models estimated associations between diet and GDM and GWG. RESULTS: No statistically significant linear associations between dairy consumption or diet quality and GDM or GWG were observed. CONCLUSIONS FOR PRACTICE: Future research should aim to address the limitations of the current cross-sectional analyses and further elucidate the underlying relationships between diet and gestational health.