Association between diet quality measured by the Healthy Food Intake Index and later risk of gestational diabetes—a secondary analysis of the RADIEL trial

The aim of this study was to find the association between adherence to the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR) and glucose metabolism. Participants were 137 pregnant obese women or women with a history of gestational diabetes (GDM) from the Finnish Gestational Diabetes Prevention Study. Adherence to the NNR was assessed by the Healthy Food Intake Index (HFII) calculated from the first trimesters’ food frequency questionnaires. Higher HFII scores reflected higher adherence to the NNR (score range 0−17). Regression models with linear contrasts served for the main analysis. The mean HFII score was 10.0 (s.d. 2.8). The odds for GDM decreased toward the higher HFII categories ( P =0.067). Fasting glucose (FG) and 2hG concentrations showed inverse linearity across the HFII categories ( P (FG)=0.030 and P (2hG)=0.028, adjusted for body mass index, age and GDM/pregnancy history). Low adherence to the NNR is associated with higher antenatal FG and 2hG concentrations and possibly GDM.