Food Consumption Patterns during Pregnancy: a Longitudinal Study in a Region of the North East of Brazil.

INTRODUCTION the nutritional panorama in Brazil indicates that the dietary patterns of the population is characterized by the increasing inclusion of saturated and trans fats, sodium, sugars, soft drinks. This epidemiological and nutritional challenges reflects in the patterns of illness and death. OBJECTIVE this study aims to identify patterns of food consumption and dietary changes in the first and third trimester of pregnancy. METHODOLOGY this is a prospective cohort study involving 185 pregnant women in the State of Bahia, from 2012 to 2013. We used a food frequency questionnaire to assess dietary intakes. To identify the dietary pattern, the principal components factor analysis was adopted. We used the Pearson correlation test to identify the correlation between the patterns extracted in each trimester. RESULTS four patterns of food consumption during pregnancy were identified. We observed changes in the eating patterns over the trimesters evaluated, especially for the food groups of fruit, coffee, fats, fried snacks, sugar and sweets. DISCUSSION these dietary changes throughout the pregnancy accompany the physiological changes of each period of the pregnancy. In the first trimester, symptoms of nausea and vomiting are common, whereas in the same period cravings is reported, which may justify the consumption of a larger quantity of food deemed unhealthy. CONCLUSION it was observed that there were changes in the adoption of dietary pattern throughout the evaluated trimesters of pregnancy, especially for the groups of fruit, coffee, fats, fried snacks and sugar and sweets.