Mediterranean Diet Adherence and Health-Related Quality of Life during Pregnancy: Is the Mediterranean Diet Beneficial in Non-Mediterranean Countries? De la Flor Alemany, Marta Sandborg, Johanna Hidalgo Migueles, Jairo Söderström, Emmie Henström, Maria Marín Jiménez, Nuria Baena García, Laura Aparicio García-Molina, Virginia Löf, Marie Diet Mediterranean Mental health This study aimed to examine the association of Mediterranean diet (MD) adherence and MD components with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in pregnant women from Spain and Sweden. A total of 138 pregnant women from Spain (age: 32.9 ± 4.6 years old) and 302 pregnant women from Sweden (age: 31.3 ± 4.1 years old) were included. MD adherence was assessed with the Mediterranean food pattern (i.e., a MD index) at the 14–16th gestational weeks. HRQoL was assessed with the Spanish and Swedish versions of the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36 and RAND-36, respectively) at the 14–16th and 34–37th gestational weeks. A greater MD adherence was associated with better physical functioning, bodily pain, vitality, emotional role, and mental health in cross-sectional associations (2nd trimester) in the Spanish sample (all p < 0.05). Furthermore, a greater MD adherence was associated with lower bodily pain in both Spanish and Swedish samples (both p < 0.05) in the 3rd trimester. The associations of MD adherence with pain seem to be explained by a greater intake of fiber, fish, fruits, nuts, and legumes (all p < 0.05). A greater MD adherence, driven by a higher intake of fiber, fish, fruits, nuts, and legumes, was associated with lower pain throughout pregnancy in both Mediterranean and non-Mediterranean populations. 2024-05-16T08:42:32Z 2024-05-16T08:42:32Z 2024-03-01 journal article Flor-Alemany, M.; Sandborg, J.; Migueles, J.H.; Söderström, E.; Henström, M.; Marín-Jiménez, N.; Baena-García, L.; Aparicio, V.A.; Löf, M. Mediterranean Diet Adherence and Health-Related Quality of Life during Pregnancy: Is the Mediterranean Diet Beneficial in Non-Mediterranean Countries? Nutrients 2024, 16, 718. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16050718 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/91856 10.3390/nu16050718 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ open access Atribución 4.0 Internacional MDPI