ASSOCIATION OF ADHERENCE TO THE DIETARY APPROACHES TO STOP HYPERTENSION (DASH) DIET IN LACTATING WOMEN WITH THE INFANTS GROWTH

Background and Aim: Nutritious breast milk is the optimal food for infant s development especially in the first 6 months of life. However, little evidence is available regarding maternal dietary intakes and the growth of infants. This study conducted to determine the association of adherence to the DASH diet in lactating women with the infants weight, height and head circumference growth at birth, 2 and 4 month.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 292 lactating mothers and their infants. A validated and reliable food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to assess mother’s dietary intakes, which included 168 food items. We scored food items based on Fung methods to evaluate the adherence to the DASH diet among lactating mothers. Results: Lactating mothers in the highest tertile of adherence to the DASH diet consumed significantly lower amounts of fat, , cholesterol, salt, red and process meat sand higher amounts of, vitamin C, B1,B9, whole grains, low-fat dairy, fruits, vegetables and dietary fiber compare to the lowest tertile of adherence(P <0.05). No significant association was reported between adherence to the maternal dietary pattern and all infant′s growth indices (P> 0.05).Conclusion: It seems that adherence to the DASH diet by lactating mothers have no association with growth indices of exclusively breastfed infants.

کلیدواژه ها:

DASH diet ، lactating mothers ، infant ، growth ، breastfed infant