There’s a ton of research showing that eating a Mediterranean diet is good for your health. More surprising is new research showing that if you eat a Mediterranean diet, it’s good for the health of others: even if they’re not even born yet.
Childhood obesity is becoming epidemic. Research from 27 European countries suggests a childhood obesity rate of 18% in kids between 2 and 7. This phenomenon is concerning because childhood obesity is linked to a higher likelihood of adult obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancer.
This innovative new study looked at the effect of adherence to the Mediterranean diet by 272 pregnant women on the risk of obesity in their child at 4 years old.
The Mediterranean diet is rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, whole grains and olive oil, moderate in fish, and very low in red and processed meats. So, in order to quantify adherence to the diet, vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, grains, fish and olive oil were assigned positive points while meat and dairy were assigned negative points.
At 4 years old, the children of mothers with the closest adherence to the Mediterranean diet were a significant 66% less likely to be overweight or obese than the children of mothers with the lowest adherence. Each one point improvement of Mediterranean diet score was associated with a 19% lower risk of the child being overweight or obese at 4 years old.
The benefit of the Mediterranean diet may come from several places, including being higher in vitamins C, D, E, folic acid and beta-carotene, fiber and unsaturated fats and lower in saturated fat.
This study shows that eating healthy while pregnant can positively affect your child’s chances of being healthy and, specifically, their chances of attaining a healthy weight that may help prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer later in life.
Nutrients. 2024 Feb;16(4):532.