Li Jinghua, Wang Difei, Mao Yanyan, Zhang Wuxia, Zhu Qianxi, Liu Jun, Du Jing, Zhou Weijin, Wang Fen, Li Min
Kaizhou District Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Chongqing, China.
Shanghai-MOST Key Laboratory of Health and Disease Genomics, NHC Key Lab of Reproduction Regulation, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai, China.
Front Nutr. 2025 Jan 7;11:1464748. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1464748. eCollection 2024.
Taste preference drives food selection, acceptance, or rejection and influences nutritional status and body mass index. Nevertheless, there are few reports concerning pregnant women. Mala flavor, characterized by its "numbing" and "spicy" sensations, is a distinctive taste of Sichuan cuisine, created by the combination of Chinese prickly ash and chili peppers. We conducted a cohort study in Chongqing, China to analyze the impact of Mala flavor, on excessive gestational weight gain (GWG). The study included 495 pregnant women aged 20-45 years, without chronic diseases, who conceived naturally and had single pregnancies from May 2021 to November 2022. Demographic information and pregnancy outcomes were collected during the second trimester and post-delivery, respectively. Food intake and taste preferences, including fatty, salty, and Mala flavors, were assessed during the third trimester. Latent Profile Analysis revealed three dietary patterns: "high-carbohydrate diet" (HCD), "low-carbohydrate diet" (LND), and "moderate nutrient diet" (MND). Multiple logistic regression indicated that pregnant women preferring Mala flavor were more likely to follow an HCD and had a higher risk of excessive GWG. Moreover, those adhering to an HCD were at an increased risk of excessive GWG. Mediation analysis showed that the preference for Mala flavor influenced excessive GWG through HCDs, with a significant indirect effect and an insignificant direct effect. Our study suggests that a preference for Mala flavor is positively associated with excessive GWG, mediated by HCD patterns. However, these findings should be approached with caution due to the exploratory nature of the study.
味觉偏好驱动食物的选择、接受或拒绝，并影响营养状况和体重指数。然而，关于孕妇的相关报道却很少。以“麻”和“辣”为特征的麻辣味是川菜的独特口味，由花椒和辣椒混合而成。我们在中国重庆进行了一项队列研究，以分析麻辣味对孕期体重过度增加（GWG）的影响。该研究纳入了495名年龄在20至45岁之间、无慢性病、自然受孕且为单胎妊娠的孕妇，她们于2021年5月至2022年11月期间怀孕。分别在孕中期和产后收集人口统计学信息和妊娠结局。在孕晚期评估食物摄入量和味觉偏好，包括对油腻、咸味和麻辣味的偏好。潜在类别分析揭示了三种饮食模式：“高碳水化合物饮食”（HCD）、“低碳水化合物饮食”（LND）和“营养适度饮食”（MND）。多元逻辑回归表明，喜欢麻辣味的孕妇更有可能遵循高碳水化合物饮食模式，且孕期体重过度增加的风险更高。此外，坚持高碳水化合物饮食模式的孕妇孕期体重过度增加的风险也更高。中介分析表明，对麻辣味的偏好通过高碳水化合物饮食模式影响孕期体重过度增加，具有显著的间接效应和不显著的直接效应。我们的研究表明，对麻辣味的偏好与孕期体重过度增加呈正相关，且受高碳水化合物饮食模式的介导。然而，由于本研究的探索性，这些发现应谨慎对待。
