Publications

Objectives

To evaluate the association between individual and environmental determinants of diet quality with diet quality of children exposed to gestational diabetes mellitus(GDM+) and unexposed (GDM−); to study the association between mother and child vegetables and fruit (VF) intakes.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Participants

One-hundred and forty-two children (104 GDM+; 38 GDM−) aged 6.2 ± 2.5 years.

Variables

Canadian Healthy Eating Index 2007 (HEI-C) and VF were obtained with two 24-hour dietary recall questionnaires in children. Maternal VF was obtained by a validated food frequency questionnaire, and weight and height were measured. Sociodemographic determinants were obtained by questionnaires.

Analysis

Linear regression models were used to evaluate the association between individual and environmental determinants and the HEI-C score with interaction for GDM status.

Results

Family meals were associated with HEI-C among GDM− but not GDM+ children (β = 9.97, P = 0.01 and β = −0.41, P = 0.84, respectively; P for interaction = 0.02). Children's age (β = −1.45; 95% confidence interval, −2.19 to −0.72; P < 0.001) was a determinant of HEI-C among all children. Maternal VF intakes were positively associated with children's VF intake (r = 0.30, P < 0.001, r² = 0.09), with association of larger variance among GDM− children (r = 0.38, r² = 0.14, P = 0.02) than GDM+ children (r = 0.23, r² = 0.05, P = 0.02).

Conclusions

The food environment at home was associated differently with the diet quality of GDM+ and GDM− children. Whether targeting family meals and maternal diet quality is a good strategy to improve children's diet quality among GDM+ children needs to be further investigated.