According to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, closer adherence to a Mediterranean diet was associated with lower odds of preeclampsia.
Preeclampsia is a major cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Given its large public health burden, there is a need to identify modifiable factors that can be targeted for preeclampsia prevention.
This study examined whether a Mediterranean-style diet is protective for preeclampsia in a large cohort of racially and ethnically diverse, urban, low-income women.

Researchers used data from the Boston Birth Cohort. Maternal sociodemographic and dietary data were obtained via interview and food frequency questionnaires within 24 to 72 hours postpartum. Additional clinical information, including physician diagnoses of preexisting conditions and preeclampsia, was extracted from medical records.
They derived a Mediterranean-style diet score from the food frequency questionnaire and performed logistic regression to examine the association of the Mediterranean-style diet score with preeclampsia. Of 8507 women in the sample, 848 developed preeclampsia. 47% were Black, 28% were Hispanic, and the remaining were White/Other. After multivariable adjustment, the greatest adherence with MSD was associated with lower preeclampsia odds (adjusted odds ratio comparing tertile 3 to tertile 1, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.64-0.96). A subgroup analysis of Black women demonstrated a similar benefit with an adjusted odds ratio comparing tertile 3 to tertile 1 of 0.74 (95% CI, 0.76-0.96).
Thus, self-report of higher adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet is associated with lower preeclampsia odds, and the benefit of this diet is present among Black women as well.
Reference:
Mediterranean-Style Diet and Risk of Preeclampsia by Race in the Boston Birth Cohort by Anum S Minhas et al. published in the Journal of the American Heart Association
DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.121.022589

Keywords:
Mediterranean-Style, Diet, Risk, Preeclampsia, Race, Boston, Birth, Cohort, Anum S Minhas, Anum S Minhas, Xiumei Hong, Guoying Wang, Dong Keun Rhee, Tiange Liu, Mingyu Zhang, Erin D Michos, Xiaobin Wang, Noel T Mueller, diet; preeclampsia; pregnancy, Journal of the American Heart Association