PROSPECTIVE STUDY OF FAST-FOOD CONSUMPTION AND THE RISK OF GESTATIONAL DIABETES MELLITUS: THE SUN COHORT

Little is known about fast-food consumption as a risk factor for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Therefore, our objective was to evaluate the association between fast-food consumption and GDM in a cohort of university graduates. The prospective dynamic SUN cohort included data of 2903 women free of diabetes or previous gestational diabetes who reported at least one pregnancy between 1999 and 2010. Fast-food consumption was assessed through a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Fast-food was defined as the consumption of hamburgers, sausages, and pizza. Three categories of fast food were established: low (0-3 servings/month), intermediate (>3 servings/month-2 servings/week) and high (>2 servings/week). Non-conditional regression models were used to adjust for potential confounders. We identified 169 incident cases of GDM during follow-up. After adjusting for age, baseline body mass index, smoking, physical activity, alcohol intake, fiber intake, Mediterranean dietary pattern, soft drinks consumption, family history of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension at baseline, and parity, regular fast-food consumption was significantly positively associated with incident GDM. Women in the intermediate category of consumption had an adjusted OR of 1.35 (95% CI 0.84-2.17) those in the highest category had an adjusted OR of 1.77 (95% CI: 1.08-2.91); p for linear trend: 0.018) using as a reference women with low consumption of fast-food . Our results suggest that pre-pregnancy higher consumption of fast-food (defined as the consumption of hamburgers, sausages, and pizza) was a risk factor for GDM.