Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #107964

Vanessa Watts, BS¹, Graham A. Colditz, DrPH, MD², Helaine RH Rockett, MS, RD³, and Heather J. Baer, SM³. (1) Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115, 406-570-8886, nessawatts@hotmail.com, (2) Departments of Medicine and Epidemiology, Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health, Channing Laboratory, 181 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, (3) Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 181 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115

Objective: To develop the DQI-W, a modified version of an existing diet quality index, to assess diet quality among low-income pregnant women and to compare diet quality of American Indians (AI) and whites. Participants: North Dakota pregnant women enrolled in WIC, a special supplemental program for women, infants and children N=7,627). AI comprised 13.5% of the population. Design: Dietary intake was assessed using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire, and DQI-W scores were derived for all participants based on 10 individual components: % recommended servings of grains, vegetables, fruits, % recommended intake of folate, calcium, and iron, % energy from fat, and saturated fat, %cholesterol intake, and a diet diversity score. Each component contributed 10 points to the total score, giving the DQI-W a maximum score of 100. Results: The mean DQI-W score was 53.5±12.9. Energy from total fat was higher than recommended, whereas servings of vegetables and grain and intakes of iron, and folate were below recommended values. AI had significantly lower DQI-W scores as compared to whites (51.6 for AI versus 53.6 for whites, p <0.0001). Cholesterol, total fat intake, and saturated fat intake were significantly higher among AI. However, AI consumed significantly higher amounts of iron and folate. Conclusion: The DQI-W scores indicate that this population is not meeting dietary recommendations through food intake alone and that there are significant differences in diet quality between AI and white pregnant women. Interventions should focus on decreasing fat intake and increasing iron and folate intake to meet national dietary recommendations.

Learning Objectives:

• • Describe the Diet Quality Index-WIC (DQI-W) as a means of assessing dietary quality.
  • Describe nutritional intake among a population of low-income pregnant women in North Dakota and identify areas for improvement.
  • Discuss and compare the diet quality of American Indians and whites in a population of low-income women in North Dakota.

Keywords: Dietary Assessment, Pregnancy

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.