Association between Dietary Glycemic Index and Excess Weight in Pregnant Women in the First Trimester of Pregnancy

Abstract Objective To assess the association between dietary glycemic index (GI) and excess weight in pregnant women in the first trimester of pregnancy. Methods A cross-sectional study in a sample of 217 pregnant women was conducted at the maternal-fetal outpatient clinic of the Hospital Geral de Fortaleza, Fortaleza, state of Ceará, Brazil, for routine ultrasound examinations in the period between 11 and 13 weeks + 6 days of gestation.Weight and height were measured and the gestational body mass index (BMI) was calculated. The women were questioned about their usual body weight prior to the gestation, considering the prepregnancy weight. The dietary GI and the glycemic load (GL) of their diets were calculated and split into tertiles. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) or Kruskal-Walls and chi-squared (χ2) statistical tests were employed. A crude logistic regression model and a model adjusted for confounding variables known to influence biological outcomes were constructed. A p-value