Dietary data has been collected at many time points in the SWS, before pregnancy and during pregnancy from the mums and up to age 8-9 years in the children. Researchers were able to make use of this longitudinal data to consider patterns in diet over time. They used statistical models to find that women and their children could be classified into five groups of dietary quality patterns across the eight time points. They then compared these patterns with adiposity at age 8-9 years in 1216 SWS children.

The authors found that diet quality trajectories are stable from before pregnancy in the mothers to age 8–9 years in the child, and that a sustained poorer diet quality was associated with higher adiposity outcomes in the child at age 8–9-years. This could suggest that the preconception period may be an important window to promote positive maternal dietary changes in order to improve childhood outcomes.

Dalrymple KV, Vogel C, Godfrey KM, Baird J, Harvey NC, Hanson MA, Cooper C, Inskip HM and Crozier SR (2022) Longitudinal dietary trajectories from preconception to mid-childhood in women and children in the Southampton Women’s Survey and their relation to offspring adiposity: a group-based trajectory modelling approach. Int J Obes 46:758-766. [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-021-01047-2]