Table 3.

Associations of dietary habits and MD adherence during pregnancy with postpartum depression severity (n = 85).

	Longitudinal Associations
	β	p
Whole-grain cereals (servings/week) †	0.023	0.830
Potatoes (servings/week) †	0.138	0.195
Fruits (servings/week) †	−0.242	0.022
Vegetables (servings/day) †	−0.058	0.599
Pulses (servings/week) †	−0.031	0.772
Fish (servings/week) †	−0.114	0.284
Red meat and subproducts (servings/week) †	0.244	0.020
Poultry (servings/week) †	−0.105	0.327
Dairy products (servings/week) †	−0.053	0.627
Olive oil (servings/week) †	−0.160	0.133
Nuts (servings/week) †	−0.054	0.616
Sweets (servings/week) †	0.026	0.806
MD adherence (4–35) †	−0.236	0.027

Each food group was introduced in a separate hierarchical regression model. Potential confounders (i.e., age, having a diagnosis of depression or anxiety, number of abortions, smoking habit, gestational weight gain, lumbar pain, marital status, and educational level) were the explanatory variables in step 1 of the stepwise regression, so that the relevant confounders were kept in the model for further analyses. Next, the explanatory variable of interest (i.e., food group or MD adherence) was entered in the model together with the covariates kept from step 1. † Adjusted for number of abortions. MD, Mediterranean diet.