Deriving the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Score in Women from Seven Pregnancy Cohorts from the European ALPHABET Consortium

Adrien Aubert (1) , Anne Forhan (1) , Blandine de Lauzon-Guillain (1) , Ling-Wei Chen (2) , Kinga Polanska , Wojciech Hanke , Agnieszka Jankowska , Sara M Mensink-Bout , Liesbeth Duijts , Matthew Suderman , Caroline Relton , Sarah Crozier , Nicholas C Harvey , Cyrus Cooper (3) , Fionnuala M Mcauliffe , Cecily C Kelleher , Catherine M Phillips , Barbara Heude (1) , Jonathan y Bernard (1)

1 CRESS (U1153 / UMR_A_1125 / UMR_S_1153) - Centre de Recherche Épidémiologie et Statistique Sorbonne Paris Cité
2 UCD - University College Dublin [Dublin]
3 University of Southampton

The ALPHABET consortium aims to examine the interplays between maternal diet quality, epigenetics and offspring health in seven pregnancy/birth cohorts from five European countries. We aimed to use the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) score to assess diet quality, but different versions have been published. To derive a single DASH score allowing crosscountry , cross-cohort and cross-period comparison and limiting data heterogeneity within the ALPHABET consortium, we harmonised food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) data collected before and during pregnancy in ≥26,500 women. Although FFQs differed strongly in length and content, we derived a consortium DASH score composed of eight food components by combining the prescriptive original DASH and the DASH described by Fung et al. Statistical issues tied to the Nutrients 2019, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 19 nature of the FFQs led us to reclassify two food groups (grains and dairy products). Most DASH food components exhibited pronounced between-cohort variability, including non-full-fat dairy products (median intake ranging from 0.1 to 2.2 servings/day), sugar-sweetened beverages/sweets/added sugars (0.3-1.7 servings/day), fruits (1.1-3.1 servings/day), and vegetables (1.5-3.6 servings/day). We successfully developed a harmonized DASH score adapted to all cohorts being part of the ALPHABET consortium. This methodological work may benefit other research teams in adapting the DASH to their study's specificities.

Mots clés: DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension); diet; nutrition; pregnancy

Domaines: Alimentation et Nutrition; Gynécologie et obstétrique; Cardiologie et système cardiovasculaire; Santé publique et épidémiologie

Adrien Aubert, Anne Forhan, Blandine de Lauzon-Guillain, Ling-Wei Chen, Kinga Polanska, et al.. Deriving the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Score in Women from Seven Pregnancy Cohorts from the European ALPHABET Consortium. Nutrients, 2019, 11 (11), pp.2706. ⟨10.3390/nu11112706⟩. ⟨hal-02367151⟩