The research, conducted with 2,404 participants from the INMA Project—Childhood and Environment—analyzes how age, educational level, social class, smoking, and physical activity relate to diet quality during gestation. The study, published in the scientific journal European Journal of Nutrition, differentiates between a healthy plant-based pattern, an unhealthy one, and the Mediterranean diet.
According to researcher Alejandro Oncina Cánovas, the first author, a plant-based pattern involves prioritizing plant-based foods. The healthy pattern includes fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, whole grains, and healthy oils, while the unhealthy one contains refined cereals, fried potatoes, sugary drinks, and sweets.
Results indicate that being 30 years or older, not smoking, and engaging in more physical activity are associated with greater adherence to the healthy plant-based pattern and the Mediterranean diet. Conversely, younger, smoking women with less physical activity and lower educational attainment showed higher adherence to the unhealthy plant-based pattern.
Women of Latin American origin showed greater adherence to both the general and unhealthy plant-based patterns, a potential contradiction that could reflect traditional habits and socioeconomic conditions associated with migration. Higher social class was associated with general plant-based patterns and the Mediterranean diet, while a university education level was related to lower adherence to plant-based patterns.
Study co-leader Sandra González Palacios emphasizes that identifying these differences can help detect groups needing nutritional support. She stresses that interventions must consider individual decisions, social inequalities, and the circumstances that condition them, with the ultimate goal of improving maternal and infant health.
The Epidemiology of Nutrition Group at UMH, led by professors Jesús Vioque and Manuela García de la Hera, conducts studies on diet and health. Researchers from various institutions also collaborated on the work, which is supported by UMH, ISABIAL, and CIBERESP.
