From pregnancy to postpartum: The interplay between maternal mental health and diet

During the perinatal period, mental health issues and poor diet quality can adversely affect maternal and infant outcomes. Previous studies described associations between perinatal mental health and diet quality, but the direction of these associations remains unclear. Additionally, most studies lack insight into how these associations fluctuate within individuals over time. Therefore, this longitudinal, preregistered study in Dutch women (N = 160) examined both between- and within-person associations between maternal mental health and diet from mid pregnancy to the early postpartum. In each of three waves of data collection, women reported on their mental health complaints (depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms) and dietary intake (food frequency questionnaire). Hair samples were collected to measure hair cortisol concentrations corresponding to each wave. Using random intercept cross-lagged panel models, we found no evidence for robust between-person associations between mental health and diet quality across the three waves. We did find associations between higher levels of mental health complaints and poorer diet quality at 18 weeks of pregnancy. Furthermore, the models did not show evidence for any within-person associations, indicating one person's mental health complaints did not predict later diet quality nor vice versa. Future studies with larger, more diverse samples are needed to replicate these results, including timing within the perinatal period and eating styles.