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Association between pre-pregnancy consumption of meat, iron intake, and the risk of gestational diabetes: the SUN project

European Journal of Nutrition volume 57, pages 939–949 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Purpose

We assessed the association of total meat, processed, and unprocessed red meat and iron intake with the risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in pregnant women.

Methods

We conducted a prospective study among 3298 disease-free Spanish women participants of the SUN cohort who reported at least one pregnancy between December 1999 and March 2012. Meat consumption and iron intake were assessed at baseline through a validated, 136-item semi-quantitative, food frequency questionnaire. We categorized total, red, and processed meat consumption and iron intake into quartiles. Logistic regression models were used to adjust for potential confounders.

Results

We identified 172 incident cases of GDM. In the fully adjusted analysis, total meat consumption was significantly associated with a higher risk of GDM [OR = 1.67 (95% CI 1.06–2.63, p-trend 0.010)] for the highest versus the lowest quartile of consumption. The observed associations were particularly strong for red meat consumption [OR = 2.37 (95% CI 1.49–3.78, p-trend < 0.001)] and processed meat consumption [OR = 2.01 (95% CI 1.26–3.21, p-trend 0.003)]. Heme iron intake was also directly associated with GDM [OR = 2.21 (95% CI 1.37–3.58, p-trend 0.003)], although the association was attenuated and lost its statistical significance when we adjusted for red meat consumption [OR = 1.57 (95% CI 0.91–2.70, p-trend 0.213)]. No association was observed for non-heme and total iron intake, including supplements.

Conclusions

Our overall findings suggest that higher pre-pregnancy consumption of total meat, especially red and processed meat, and heme iron intake, are significantly associated with an increased GDM risk in a Mediterranean cohort of university graduates.

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful to Mark Sullivan for the revision of English spelling, grammar, and writing. The SUN Project has received funding from the Spanish Government-Instituto de Salud Carlos III, and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) (RD 06/0045, CIBER-OBN, Grants PI10/02658, PI10/02293, PI13/00615, PI14/01668, PI14/01798, PI14/01764, and G03/140), the Navarra Regional Government (45/2011, 122/2014), and the University of Navarra.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Navarra, Irunlarrea 1, 31008, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain

    Amelia Marí-Sanchis, Ginette Díaz-Jurado, F. Javier Basterra-Gortari, Carmen de la Fuente-Arrillaga, Miguel A. Martínez-González & Maira Bes-Rastrollo

  2. Division of Nutrition, Department of Endocrinology and Nutrition, Hospital de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

    Amelia Marí-Sanchis

  3. Department of Internal Medicine (Endocrinology), Hospital Reina Sofia, Tudela, Spain

    F. Javier Basterra-Gortari

  4. Navarra Institute for Health Research (IDISNA), Pamplona, Spain

    Carmen de la Fuente-Arrillaga, Miguel A. Martínez-González & Maira Bes-Rastrollo

  5. Biomedical Research Center Network on Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBERobn), Institute of Health Carlos III, Madrid, Spain

    Carmen de la Fuente-Arrillaga, Miguel A. Martínez-González & Maira Bes-Rastrollo

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  1. Amelia Marí-Sanchis
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Correspondence to Maira Bes-Rastrollo.

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Marí-Sanchis, A., Díaz-Jurado, G., Basterra-Gortari, F.J. et al. Association between pre-pregnancy consumption of meat, iron intake, and the risk of gestational diabetes: the SUN project. Eur J Nutr 57, 939–949 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-017-1377-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-017-1377-3

Keywords

  • Gestational diabetes mellitus
  • Total meat
  • Red and processed meat
  • Heme iron intake
  • Mediterranean population