Association between eating habits during adolescence and gestational diabetes: data from the Japan environment and children's study

Marina Minami; Takafumi Watanabe; Masamitsu Eitoku; Nagamasa Maeda; Mikiya Fujieda; Narufumi Suganuma; Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS) Group

doi:10.1007/s40200-023-01294-2

Association between eating habits during adolescence and gestational diabetes: data from the Japan environment and children's study

J Diabetes Metab Disord. 2023 Sep 24;22(2):1625-1633. doi: 10.1007/s40200-023-01294-2. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Marina Minami^{1

2}, Takafumi Watanabe³, Masamitsu Eitoku¹, Nagamasa Maeda², Mikiya Fujieda⁴, Narufumi Suganuma¹; Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS) Group

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Medicine, Kochi Medical School, Kochi University, Nankoku, Kochi Japan.
² Integrated Center for Advanced Medical Technologies (ICAM-Tech), Kochi Medical School, Nankoku, Kochi Japan.
³ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kochi Medical School, Kochi University, Nankoku, Kochi Japan.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, Kochi Medical School, Kochi University, Nankoku, Kochi Japan.

Abstract

Purpose: It is difficult to change pre-pregnancy eating habits, yet establishing healthy eating habits before pregnancy is important for preventing gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). This study aimed to examine whether the weight-loss behavior of avoiding between-meal and midnight snacking in teenagers is associated with a reduction in the risk of subsequent GDM.

Methods: We used a dataset (jecs-an-20,180,131) from a nationwide, prospective birth cohort study, the Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS). We included 89,227 (85.7% of the total) mother-infant pairs with live births. Participants in their second or third trimester were asked to report their weight-loss behavior during their teenage years. The prevalence of GDM was investigated. Differences in maternal characteristics were examined using chi-square tests. Crude and adjusted logistic regression models were constructed to assess the associations of various maternal characteristics with the weight-loss behavior of avoiding between-meal and midnight snacking during teenage years.

Results: A total of 2,066 (2.3%) participants had GDM. Weight-loss behavior in teenagers was associated with a decreased risk of GDM. Among participants with normal weight or overweight prior to pregnancy, the adjusted odds ratios were 0.79 (95% confidence interval, 0.70-0.89) and 0.82 (95% confidence interval, 0.69-0.98), respectively.

Conclusions: The results suggest that teenage weight-loss behaviors, such as avoiding between-meal and midnight snacking, are associated with a decreased risk of developing GDM.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40200-023-01294-2.

Keywords: Diabetes; Gestational; Japan Environment and Children’s study; Snacks; Teenagers.

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