Maternal and Birth Characteristics Are Relevant to the Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods in Young Adults: Results from the Nutritionists’ Health Study

Sthefani C. Penha, Ilana N. Bezerra, Daniela V. Azevedo, Helena A. C. Sampaio and Antonio A. F. Carioca ()
Additional contact information
Sthefani C. Penha: Program Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Ceará, Street Professor Costa Mendes, 1608, Fortaleza 60430-140, CE, Brazil
Ilana N. Bezerra: Nutrition Department, State University of Ceará, Dr. Silas Munguba Avenue, 1700, Fortaleza 60714-903, CE, Brazil
Daniela V. Azevedo: Nutrition Department, State University of Ceará, Dr. Silas Munguba Avenue, 1700, Fortaleza 60714-903, CE, Brazil
Helena A. C. Sampaio: Postgraduate Program in Public Health, State University of Ceará, Dr. Silas Munguba Avenue, 1700, Fortaleza 60714-903, CE, Brazil
Antonio A. F. Carioca: Nutrition Department, University of Fortaleza, Washington Soares Avenue, 1321, Fortaleza 60811-905, CE, Brazil

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 9, 1-12

Abstract: Background: One’s dietary pattern throughout life is established during the perinatal period, especially in the intrauterine environment. This study aims to analyze whether maternal and birth characteristics are associated with food consumption in young adults using baseline data from the Nutritionists’ Health Study (NutriHS). Methods: We employed cross-sectional analysis of data from 386 undergraduate nutrition students and nutritionists. Current food consumption was evaluated as per the NOVA classification. The maternal and birth factors included maternal age, parity, type of childbirth, health problems during pregnancy, prematurity, and birth weight, and multiple correspondence analysis of these variables was performed to identify patterns in them. Results: The energy contribution of ultra-processed foods was positively associated with the pattern characterized by participants whose mothers were 19 years of age or younger, primiparous, and had a vaginal delivery (β = 0.48; 95% confidence interval = 0.02, 1.66). Conclusions: We concluded that maternal age at birth was associated with the dietary patterns of adult children. Participants whose mothers were 19 or younger at birth had significantly higher consumption of ultra-processed foods in adulthood compared to those whose mothers were older.

Keywords: maternal age; parity; childbirth; maternal exposure; food; processed (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/9/1321/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/9/1321/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:9:p:1321-:d:1732452

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().