Table 2.
Daily dietary intakesa by foetal sex.
| preconception | early pregnancy | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| median (lower, upper quartile) | Χ2 | p-value | median (lower, upper quartile) | Χ2 | p-value | |||
| male foetus (n=360) | female foetus (n=361) | male foetus (n=372) | female foetus (n=368) | |||||
| energy (kcal) | 2413 (1986, 2912) | 2283 (1781, 2720) | 4.80 | 0.029 | 2033 (1763, 2283) | 2061 (1730, 2326) | 1.06 | 0.304 |
| total fat (g) | 87.0 (70.7, 112.0) | 85.5 (67.3, 106.2) | 2.20 | 0.138 | 84.2 (69.6, 98.0) | 84.8 (70.4, 101.3) | 0.16 | 0.692 |
| % energy from fat | 33.5 (30.6, 37.0) | 34.2 (31.0, 37.4) | 0.59 | 0.441 | 37.6 (34.5, 40.7) | 37.9 (34.7, 41.2) | 1.43 | 0.232 |
| protein (g) | 95.9 (77.3, 113.9) | 91.3 (73.7, 109.8) | 7.25 | 0.007 | 71.7 (62.0, 84.2) | 74.6 (61.8, 85.2) | 0.68 | 0.409 |
| % energy from protein | 15.9 (14.3, 17.7) | 15.7 (14.1, 17.6) | 0.49 | 0.484 | 14.5 (12.9, 16.1) | 14.6 (13.2, 16.0) | 0.19 | 0.663 |
| carbohydrate (g) | 342 (281, 406) | 323 (259, 384) | 4.46 | 0.035 | 257.3 (220.5, 292.4) | 255.2 (214.3, 293.1) | 2.43 | 0.119 |
| % energy from carbohydrate | 52.8 (49.0, 56.1) | 52.4 (49.0, 56.1) | 0.08 | 0.784 | 47.4 (44.7, 50.5) | 47.2 (43.6, 50.3) | 1.51 | 0.219 |
| vitamin C (mg) | 111 (78, 72) | 103 (72, 140) | 2.29 | 0.130 | 76.5 (49.0, 109.8) | 71.0 (46.0, 107.0) | 0.72 | 0.397 |
| vitamin E (mg) | 8.0 (6.3, 10.4) | 7.7 (6.0, 9.6) | 2.75 | 0.097 | 8.0 (5.8, 11.3) | 8.2 (6.0, 11.2) | 0.03 | 0.872 |
| β-carotene (μg) | 1658 (998, 2564) | 1479 (999, 2560) | 0.00 | 0.975 | 897 (449, 1542) | 869 (481, 1345) | 0.83 | 0.360 |
| retinol (μg) | 469 (321, 888) | 433 (302, 832) | 0.14 | 0.708 | 406 (311, 503) | 417 (317, 532) | 0.62 | 0.432 |
| vitamin B12 (μg) | 7.2 (4.8, 10.9) | 6.8 (4.5, 10.5) | 0.02 | 0.875 | 3.7 (2.8, 4.7) | 3.6 (2.8, 4.6) | 0.02 | 0.879 |
| folate (μg) | 396 (321, 479) | 367 (293, 460) | 3.76 | 0.052 | 240 (189, 279) | 236 (192, 292) | 0.96 | 0.327 |
| iron (mg) | 14.6 (11.8, 18.3) | 13.5 (11.1, 16.8) | 4.14 | 0.042 | 10.2 (8.4, 12.2) | 10.0 (8.7, 11.9) | 1.04 | 0.308 |
| zinc (mg) | 12.0 (9.5, 14.9) | 11.3 (9.1, 13.9) | 4.45 | 0.035 | 8.0 (6.5, 9.5) | 8.1 (6.7, 9.6) | 0.02 | 0.880 |
| sodium (mg)b | 4267 (3445, 5105) | 3944 (3226, 4807) | 8.73 | 0.003 | 2976 (2534, 3553) | 2971 (2522, 3547) | 1.57 | 0.209 |
| calcium (mg) | 1246 (970, 1572) | 1154 (905, 1437) | 7.41 | 0.006 | 896 (725, 1103) | 903 (721, 1129) | 0.52 | 0.437 |
| potassium (mg) | 4630 (3952, 5492) | 4342 (3646, 5190) | 3.97 | 0.046 | 2952 (2516, 3390) | 2967 (2462, 3478) | 0.76 | 0.382 |
a
Diet before conception was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire, and in early pregnancy using a 7-day food diary. The absolute values for intakes are therefore not directly comparable due to the methodological differences, but good agreement is obtained for the ranking of subjects (see electronic supplementary material).
b
Sodium intake is difficult to measure accurately with any dietary method due to variation between brands of processed food and addition of table salt to food and cooking.