MEDITERRANEAN DIET ADHERENCE SCORE, NUTRITIONAL PROFILE AND INCIDENCE OF GESTATIONAL DIABETES IN PREGNANT WOMEN FROM THE PROVINCE OF SAFI (MOROCCO)

Objectives. The nutrition of pregnant women is one of the challenges of the Moroccan health authorities. A healthy and balanced diet based on the principles of the Mediterranean diet (MD) is a potential way to prevent several dietary deficiencies and avoid risks, particularly in women with gestational diabetes (GD). This work aims were to examine the association between adherence to the (MD) and nutritional status, among diabetic pregnant women in the city of Safi in Morocco. Material and methods. A cross-sectional, correlational and analytical study conducted over a period of 17 months, from October 2018 to February 2020, targeted 401 pregnant women attending antenatal consultation (ANC) services in eight health centers (HCs). MD adherence was assessed by the MDS-P score, based on the simplified MD score in addition to the specific needs for Iron (Fe), Calcium (Ca) and folic acid during pregnancy. Results were processed using statistical operations such as correlations, comparison, and ANOVA analysis of variance. Results. The study shows that adherence to the MD was low in 33.9%, moderate in 65.1%, and high in 1% only. The data also revealed that the MD adherence score was not significantly associated with the incidence of GD (p>0.05), while a significant association was found with nutritional status in the majority of cases (p<0.001). Conclusions. Maintaining the Mediterranean dietary model in Morocco plays a crucial role in the public health as it protects against gestational diabetes and several metabolic diseases. Keywords: Mediterranean diet Adherence score, Gestational diabetes, Nutritional status, Nutrition.