Soy foods and nuts consumption during early pregnancy are associated with decreased risk of gestational diabetes mellitus: a prospective cohort study

Abstract

Aims

To study the relationship of soy foods and nuts consumption during early pregnancy with the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).

Methods

This was a prospective observational study conducted in Southwest China. Dietary information was assessed through 3-day 24-h dietary recalls at 6–14 gestational weeks. For soy foods and nuts, non-consumers were used as the reference category and the consumers were categorized into tertiles. GDM was assessed with the 75-g, 2-h oral glucose tolerance test at 24–28 gestational weeks. Log-binomial models were used to assess the effects of soy foods and nuts on GDM.

Results

Of the 1495 pregnant women, 529 were diagnosed with GDM. Median (IQRs) intakes of soy foods and nuts were 2.9 (0.0, 10.3) and 5.0 (0.0, 15.0) g/d, respectively. Our study found that, compared with the non-consumers, the highest tertile of soy foods intake was associated with a decrease in risk of GDM (RR = 0.73, 95%CI: 0.54–0.99, p = .049). Similarly, compared with the non-consumers, a negative relationship between the highest tertile of nuts intake and GDM risk was identified (RR = 0.65, 95%CI: 0.48–0.89, p = .007).

Conclusions

Consumption of soy foods and nuts are independently inversely associated with the risk of GDM during early pregnancy.

Keywords:

• Gestational diabetes mellitus
• soy food
• nut
• pregnancy
• China

Acknowledgments

All participants are gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Author contributions

G.Z. designed the research. X.P. performed initial data analyses and wrote the manuscript. C.C., H.D., and X.L. edited the manuscript. Y.Z., D.B., and L.H. performed data entry. H.S. and F.L. provided critical input on the data analyses. G.Z. supervised the study. All authors critically reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

All phases of this study were supported by a research grant from the Danone Nutrition Center Dietary Nutrition Research and Education Fund (grant number DIC2016-06). The funders had no additional role in the design, analysis or writing of this article.