Sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics are associated with antioxidant intake and the consumption of their dietary sources during pregnancy

Objective: To analyse the associations of selected sociodemographic and lifestyle factors with the intake of antioxidant nutrients and consumption of their main dietary sources among pregnant women. Design: A population-based cohort study. Dietary intake during pregnancy was assessed by a self-administered FFQ one to three months after the delivery. Setting: Type 1 Diabetes Prediction and Prevention (DIPP) Project. Subjects: Subjects comprised 3730 women (70.1% of those invited) who entered the DIPP Nutrition Study after delivering a child at increased genetic risk for type 1 diabetes at the university hospitals in Oulu and Tampere, Finland, 1997-2002. Results: All sociodemographic and lifestyle factors studied showed significant associations with antioxidant intake in multiple regression models adjusting for all other factors. Older and more educated women tended to have higher intake of most antioxidants. Parity was positively associated with retinol intake and inversely with vitamin C intake. Smokers had lower intakes of most antioxidants. Only the partner's education was positively associated with high intake of fruits, whereas own education was positively associated with berry consumption. Vegetable consumption was positively associated with partner's education except for women with academic education, who tended to have high vegetable consumption irrespective of partner's education. Conclusions: Young women, smokers and those with a low education are at risk for low antioxidant intake and non-optimal food choices during pregnancy.