Investigating the patterns of diet quality in pregnant women within the Born in Bradford Better Start (BiBBS) cohort.

It is understood that a woman’s pregnancy is a key milestone for the development of her child and as such, the dietary behaviours of the mother during pregnancy are crucial for the optimal development of the foetus and the additional physical needs that are placed on a woman’s body during pregnancy. Although dietary supplementation is encouraged during pregnancy, the importance of a whole food, nutrient dense diet cannot be underestimated.
Diet quality is a term used to describe the status of an individual’s diet and how nutritious (i.e., supportive of health) it is. Research has identified those who are food insecure have been found to have low diet quality (e.g., eating fewer fruits and vegetables than those with higher diet quality).

Literature has found that adults’ diet quality can vary by demographic and socio-economic factors, for example, individuals with a higher level of occupation have been found to have a more improved diet quality (over time) compared to those with a lower level of occupation (Mishra et al., 2006). In pregnancy, women who are younger, less educated and less affluent are more at risk of having a diet of lower quality (Doyle et al., 2017).

The BiBBS cohort consists of women living in the Better Start area of Bradford which is amongst the most deprived in the Bradford district and in England. Understanding women’s diet quality here in Bradford may help explain the presence of dietary inequalities so that early life and supportive policy can be put in place.