PP082 - IMPACT OF DIETARY COUNSELLING ON ANTIOXIDANT-RICH FOOD INTAKE DURING PREGNANCY

PP082

IMPACT OF DIETARY COUNSELLING ON ANTIOXIDANT-RICH FOOD INTAKE DURING PREGNANCY

E. Kontopidou^1,*, A. Athanasiadis², K. Makedou³, D. Tsoumana⁴, A. Itziou¹

¹Department of Midwifery, School of Health Sciences, University of Western Macedonia, Ptolemaida, ²3rd Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, ³Laboratory of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, AHEPA University Hospital, ⁴Laboratory of Hygiene, Social & Preventive Medicine and Medical Statistics, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

Rationale: Maternal nutritional status and oxidative stress during gestation significantly influence birth outcome and long-term offspring health. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of dietary counseling on antioxidant micronutrient intakes during pregnancy.

Methods: 80 pregnant women were recruited at the end of their first trimester (12-13 weeks of gestation). Τhe intervention group (n=60) received online dietary counselling every 15 days over 12 weeks, focusing on increasing the intake of micronutrients through an antioxidant-rich diet, (i.e., ≥5 servings/day vegetables, ≥2 servings/day fruit, ≥8 ½ servings/day wholegrains and 3-4 servings/week lean meat). The control group (n=20) received standard nutritional guidance in a single session. Dietary intakes were assessed both at baseline and post-intervention using a validated, culture-specific, semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire¹ (FFQ) for Greek pregnant women. Statistical analysis included paired t-tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests.

Results: Following Bonferroni correction, the intervention group showed significant improvements (p ≤0.001) in micronutrient-dense food groups: fresh fruits (mean: 0.71, SD: 1.07), raw vegetables (mean: 0.63, SD: 0.63), white meat (mean: 0.22, SD: 0.18) and wholemeal spaghetti (mean: 0.08, SD: 0.18). In contrast, the control group exhibited negligible variations.

Conclusion: The intervention improved micronutrient and antioxidant-rich food consumption, unlike the control group. These results suggest targeted counseling can improve prenatal micronutrient status, although the lack of significance in categories, such as dried fruits, wholemeal bread and fish indicates a need for more structured future strategies.

References: ¹Apostolopoulou A, et al. Development and validation of a short culture-specific food frequency questionnaire for Greek pregnant women and their adherence to the Mediterranean diet. Nutrition. 2021;90:111357.

Disclosure of Interest: None declared