0023 Chrononutrition and Perinatal Mental Health: The Relationship Between Food Intake Patterns and Prenatal Depressive Symptomatology

Abstract Introduction Perinatal depression is a leading contributor to maternal morbidity, affecting 20% of pregnancies. While food intake timing has been associated with depression in adults, its role during pregnancy is underexplored. Our aim is to examine the cross-sectional association between mid-pregnancy (24-28 weeks’ gestation) food timing profiles and depressive symptomatology. Methods This is a secondary data analysis of the Comparison of Two Screening Strategies for Gestational Diabetes (GDM2) trial (N = 719). Latent profile analysis was used to identify food timing profiles based on four food timing indicators: timing of first/last eating episode, total eating window, and caloric midpoint time obtained from 24-hour dietary recalls. Prenatal depression was defined as an Edinburgh Postnatal Depression score >10. Log-binomial regression was used to examine the association between mid-pregnancy food timing profiles and prenatal depressive symptomatology, adjusting for known covariates (e.g., insomnia symptoms, maternal age, stress, education, etc.). Results We identified four unique food timing profiles. The “early eating” profile (n = 210) began/ended eating at 7:45 AM-7:30 PM with caloric midpoint at 1:30 PM and an eating window of 11.6 hours. The “daytime eating” (n = 222) profile had the latest caloric midpoint (3:30 PM) and a typical eating window (M = 11.8-hour). The “extended window” profile (n = 151) had the earliest first intake and the longest eating window (M = 14.5 hours). The “restricted eating” profile (n = 136) had the latest first intake and shortest eating window (M = 8.8 hours). Participants with an extended window eating profile (vs. early eating profile) had a 63% higher risk of depression (95% CI 1.11-2.42). There were no statistically significant differences between the early eating and the daytime eating (RR = 1.41, 95% CI 0.95-2.08), and restricted window (RR = 1.16, 95% CI 0.74-1.80) profiles. Conclusion Results support previous literature reporting associations between later eating times and depression. The timing of food intake is an important factor in assessing depressive symptoms during the prenatal period. Support (if any) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development [R01HD079647 (PI: Davis)], the University of Pittsburgh Clinical & Translational Science Institute (CTSI) [UL1TR001857]