Exercise, Mediterranean Diet Adherence or Both during Pregnancy to Prevent Postpartum Depression—GESTAFIT Trial Secondary Analyses De la Flor Alemany, Marta Hidalgo Migueles, Jairo Alemany Arrebola, Inmaculada Aparicio García-Molina, Virginia Baena García, Laura Depression Diet Mediterranean Exercise Postpartum period Pregnant women Targeting lifestyle behaviors during pregnancy is crucial to prevent the highly prevalent postpartum depression and its consequences. In these secondary analyses of an intervention trial to investigate the effects of concurrent exercise training on postpartum depression, we aimed to investigate the potential role of Mediterranean diet (MD) adherence on the exercise effects. A total of 85 pregnant women met the per-protocol criteria (exercise n = 46, control n = 39). The exercise program was delivered in 60 min sessions, 3 days/week, from the 17th gestational week until birth. Women's dietary habits were assessed with a food frequency questionnaire. The Mediterranean Food Pattern (an MD index) was derived from it to assess MD adherence. We used the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale to assess postpartum depression. The postpartum depression score was not statistically different between control and exercise groups (p > 0.05). A higher consumption of fruits (beta = -0.242, p = 0.022), lower intake of red meat and subproducts (beta = 0.244, p = 0.020), and a greater MD adherence (beta = -0.236, p = 0.027) were associated with lower levels of postpartum depression. Greater adherence to the MD during pregnancy was associated with fewer depressive symptoms and a lower risk of postpartum depression. Postnatal depression was not reduced by prenatal exercise. Promoting fruit consumption while controlling the intake of red meat during pregnancy might prevent postnatal depression. 2022-12-09T07:57:47Z 2022-12-09T07:57:47Z 2022-11-04 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Flor-Alemany, M... [et al.]. Exercise, Mediterranean Diet Adherence or Both during Pregnancy to Prevent Postpartum Depression—GESTAFIT Trial Secondary Analyses. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 14450. [https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114450] https://hdl.handle.net/10481/78348 10.3390/ijerph192114450 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 4.0 Internacional MDPI