Association of weight status and carbohydrate intake with gestational weight gain

Test the hypothesis that women with obesity have greater gestation weight gain (GWG) with a moderately higher, vs lower, carbohydrate (CHO) diet, independent of energy intake, whereas GWG for women of normal weight would not differ by CHO group. This was a secondary analysis of data collected from glucose tolerant women with normal weight (NW) or obesity in pregnancy. Women completed a three-day food diary 16 to 20 weeks. A median split for percent kilocalories from CHO (median = 49.6%) categorized women into moderately highCHO vs lowCHO groups (n = 13-15/group). GWG was calculated between consent and the last prenatal care visit. A two-way ANOVA was used to examine whether there was an interaction between weight status and CHO group on GWG, independent of energy intake, time between consent and last prenatal visit, and age. Women in both highCHO groups consumed more sugars and starches compared to women in the lowCHO groups (P < .05). A significant interaction between weight status and CHO content of the diet was found (P < .05), such that, for women with obesity, those consuming a lowCHO diet had less GWG than those consuming a highCHO diet, whereas the pattern was opposite for women with NW. Results suggest that intake of a moderately lower CHO diet may help limit GWG among glucose tolerant women with obesity. Given that women in this study were eligible only if they had normal fasting glucose concentrations in early pregnancy, it is not clear if these results would generalize to all women with obesity during pregnancy.