| Objectives To understand the dietary nutritional status of lactating women,analyze the dietary pattern of lactating women,and explore the relationship between the dietary pattern of lactating mothers and the physical development of exclusively breastfed infants,to provide a basis for further improving maternal and infant health.MethodsIn a prospective observational study,four urban child health care manual establishment units in Hefei were randomly selected from January 2021 to December2021.The mothers who established the child health care manual within 10 days after delivery were selected as the target population and the study subjects were selected according to the principle of convenience sampling.Mother and infant information was collected using a self-compiled questionnaire.Five days before and after the end of per month of age within 6 months of delivery,the weight of food intake and leftover food were measured before and after meals,the intake of each food was recorded,and the weight and length growth of infants also were monitored.The dietary survey was conducted by weighing method,and all food intake and weight were recorded in chronological order(breakfast,lunch,and dinner)during the day.Dietary patterns were established by principal component analysis.The number of common factors(dietary patterns)was determined and named according to the characteristic root value,cumulative variance contribution rate,and gravel plot.Linear mixed models were used to explore the influence of adjusting confounding factors,the confounding factors were adverse birth history,birth weight,birth length,infant sex,pre-pregnancy body mass index,weight gain during pregnancy,maternal smoking / passive smoking,maternal age,and paternal ageResultsA total of 279 maternal and infant pairs were included in the analysis.The average age of nursing mothers was(29.77 ± 3.92),129 boys(46.2%)and 150 girls(53.8%),and the average gestational age at birth was(39.14 ± 1.10)weeks.The dietary structure of lactating women in Hefei is unbalanced,and the overall intake of cereal and potato,poultry eggs,and beans was higher than the recommended intake.The consumption of cereal and potato and poultry and eggs was 87.5% and 91.0%respectively;vegetables,fruits,milk,and nuts were significantly lower than the recommended intake,and the intake of milk and nuts was seriously insufficient,only3.2% of mothers reached the recommended intake,and the intake of most kinds of food in 6 months after delivery was declining.Milk mother’s daily dietary energy intake,accounting for only 78.6% of the recommended intake,nutrient protein,niacin,zinc,and copper intake is higher than the recommended intake,vitamin A,vitamin B1,vitamin B2,vitamin C,folic acid,calcium,iron,magnesium,and selenium intake is lower than the recommended amount,including folic acid level dietary sources accounted for the lowest recommended intake ratio,and postpartum 6 months energy and three production capacity nutrient intake are declining.According to the principal component analysis,there are mainly four dietary patterns for lactating women,namely,fruit,eggs,and milk diet,traditional food diet,animal and plant protein diet and snack food diet.After adjusting for the confounding factors,found that the milk mothers prefer a fruit-egg-milk dietary pattern,Q3(β =-0.42,95% CI:-0.67～-0.18)and Q4(β=-0.47,95% CI:-0.71～-0.22)of this dietary pattern were negatively associated with infant WAZ.Compared with the Q1 group of fruit-egg-milk dietary pattern,the Q3(β=-0.40,95% CI:-0.56～-0.25)and Q4(β=-0.58,95% CI:-0.74～-0.43)were negatively correlated with infant LAZ.Compared with the Q1 group of traditional dietary pattern,the Q3(β =-0.35,95% CI:-0.50～-0.20)and Q4(β=-0.02,95% CI:-0.36～0.05)groups and infants had lower LAZ.No association was found between dietary patterns and BMIZ in infants(P>0.05).ConclusionsThe lactating women in this study had an unbalanced dietary pattern during postpartum lactation.The intake of vegetables,fruits,milk,and nuts in the diet of lactating women was significantly lower than the recommended intake,and the intake of most types of food in the postpartum 6 months showed a downward trend.The intake of vitamin A,vitamin B1,vitamin B2,vitamin C,folic acid,calcium,iron,magnesium,and selenium was lower than the recommended amount,and the intake of energy,three major energy-producing nutrients,and various vitamins showed a downward trend.There were four main dietary patterns of lactating women in Hefei City,including fruit,egg,and milk dietary pattern,traditional dietary pattern,animal and plant protein dietary pattern,and snack dietary pattern.The Z-scores of body weight and body length of infants of lactating women who preferred the fruit,egg,and milk dietary pattern and the traditional dietary pattern were lower. |
