Dietary patterns by cluster analysis in pregnant women: relationship with nutrient intakes and dietary patterns in 7-year-old offspring

© 2016 The Authors. Maternal & Child Nutrition published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Little is known about how dietary patterns of mothers and their children track over time. The objectives of this study are to obtain dietary patterns in pregnancy using cluster analysis, to examine women's mean nutrient intakes in each cluster and to compare the dietary patterns of mothers to those of their children. Pregnant women (n = 12 195) from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children reported their frequency of consumption of 47 foods and food groups. These data were used to obtain dietary patterns during pregnancy by cluster analysis. The absolute and energy-adjusted nutrient intakes were compared between clusters. Women's dietary patterns were compared with previously derived clusters of their children at 7 years of age. Multinomial logistic regression was performed to evaluate relationships comparing maternal and offspring clusters. Three maternal clusters were identified: ‘fruit and vegetables’, ‘meat and potatoes’ and ‘white bread and coffee’. After energy adjustment women in the ‘fruit and vegetables’ cluster had the highest mean nutrient intakes. Mothers in the ‘fruit and vegetables’ cluster were more likely than mothers in ‘meat and potatoes’ (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 2.00; 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.69–2.36) or ‘white bread and coffee’ (OR: 2.18; 95% CI: 1.87–2.53) clusters to have children in a ‘plant-based’ cluster. However the majority of children were in clusters unrelated to their mother dietary pattern. Three distinct dietary patterns were obtained in pregnancy; the ‘fruit and vegetables’ pattern being the most nutrient dense. Mothers' dietary patterns were associated with but did not dominate offspring dietary patterns

Maternal macronutrient and energy intakes in pregnancy and offspring intake at 10 y: exploring parental comparisons and prenatal effects1234

Background: High maternal dietary intakes in pregnancy may lead to increased fetal growth and program neuroendocrine pathways that result in greater appetite, energy intake, and adiposity in offspring later in life. Few prospective dietary studies have explored this relation

Childhood dairy intake and adult cancer risk: 65-y follow-up of the Boyd Orr cohort

Background: Dairy consumption affects biological pathways associated with carcinogenesis. Evidence for a link between cancer risk and dairy consumption in adulthood is increasing, but associations with childhood dairy consumption have not been studied adequately. Objective: We investigated whether dairy consumption in childhood is associated with cancer incidence and mortality in adulthood. Design: From 1937 through 1939, some 4999 children living in England and Scotland participated in a study of family food consumption, assessed from 7-d household food inventories. The National Health Service central register was used to ascertain cancer registrations and deaths between 1948 and 2005 in the 4383 traced cohort members. Per capita household intake estimates for dairy products and calcium were used as proxy for individual intake. Results: During the follow-up period, 770 cancer registrations or cancer deaths occurred. High childhood total dairy intake was associated with a near-tripling in the odds of colorectal cancer [multivariate odds ratio: 2.90 (95% CI: 1.26, 6.65); 2-sided P for trend = 0.005] compared with low intake, independent of meat, fruit, and vegetable intakes and socioeconomic indicators. Milk intake showed a similar association with colorectal cancer risk. High milk intake was weakly inversely associated with prostate cancer risk (P for trend = 0.11). Childhood dairy intake was not associated with breast and stomach cancer risk; a positive association with lung cancer risk was confounded by smoking behavior during adulthood. Conclusions: A family diet rich in dairy products during childhood is associated with a greater risk of colorectal cancer in adulthood. Confirmation of possible underlying biological mechanisms is needed