Prenatal loss of control eating and cardiovascular health: Extending prior findings

Cross-sectional evidence suggests that loss of control eating (LOC; feeling unable to stop eating and/or control the type/amount of food eaten) relates to poorer cardiovascular health (CVH) behaviors during pregnancy. Longitudinal data and data on biomarkers are lacking and are needed to more comprehensively evaluate the impact of prenatal LOC on CVH across pregnancy. This study tested cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between prenatal LOC and CVH in pregnancy using all eight health behaviors and biomarkers comprising the standard and a pregnancy-adapted version of Life's Essential 8 (LE8), which accounts for the physiological adaptations/cardiovascular impacts of pregnancy.

Participants enrolled in a perinatal lifestyle intervention trial completed assessments in early (N = 265) and late (n = 166) pregnancy, M (SD) = 13.7 (2.7) and 36.6 (1.3) weeks' gestation, respectively. Measures of CVH metrics were used to calculate standard and pregnancy-adapted LE8 scores (range = 0-100; higher = better). LOC was self-reported in early pregnancy and dichotomized (0 = absent, 1 = present). Regression models tested if early pregnancy LOC was related to LE8 scores, controlling for relevant covariates, including randomization status and LOC propensity scores.

Early pregnancy LOC was not statistically significantly associated with standard LE8 scores in early pregnancy (b = -0.98, p = .47) or late pregnancy after adjusting for multiple comparisons (b = 2.63, corrected p = .37), nor with pregnancy-adapted LE8 scores in early (b = -1.06, p = .44) or late (b = 2.24, p = .06) pregnancy.

The present study did not observe cross-sectional nor longitudinal associations between prenatal LOC and CVH across pregnancy when using the standard or pregnancy-adapted CVH frameworks. Nevertheless, one third of the current sample self-reported prenatal LOC, warranting future research to understand whether and how LOC contributes to cardiovascular risk among pregnant individuals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).