Project 454847

Common complications during pregnancy include diabetes, high blood pressure, preterm birth. These are worrisome as they are linked to higher rates of diseases in later life for both the mother and the baby, and even death. Modifications to the mother's diet before pregnancy may prevent complications from occurring. Diet is difficult to measure correctly with traditional research methods, which are burdensome for study participants. New technologies such as mobile phone applications, used worldwide, allow to measure diet more easily and have the potential to improve it. However, this remains to be proven. My first objective is to implement and evaluate the feasibility of using the photo-based mobile food diary I co-developed (Keenoa) to track diet in 5,000 participants of a unique digital study part of a large American cohort. My next objective is to evaluate if Keenoa and a mobile diet survey (Beiwe) are accurate methods to evaluate diet when compared to a traditional method. To this end, I will apply statistical analyses to compare participants intake in nutrients, such as calories and protein reported using the different methods. Lastly, I aim to identify diets that may be linked to lower rates of complications during pregnancy. Using novel statistical analyses, I will examine women's dietary intake data and complications of 38,527 pregnancies from the same large American cohort. This research will permit to find dietary patterns that may favour an overall healthy pregnancy and provide novel insights to advise recommendations; upon the accumulation of evidence, it may be a strategy for women planning a pregnancy to modify their diet during periconception. Together, my studies will serve to inform the design of future intervention and large cohort studies in North America and similar populations; and national surveys, such as the Canadian Health Measures Survey.