Women's health: interplay of maternal diet and key demographics on neurological health in the rural frontier and remote West

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Project Summary/Abstract This INBRE administrative supplement expands the capacity of Idaho to conduct women’s health research. The proposed research is within the scope of the parent INBRE award (P20 GM103408). The project fits within the broad and inclusive Idaho INBRE scientific theme of ‘cell signaling,’ develops investigator research capacity, and provides research opportunities to students. Compromised mental, cognitive, and emotional health is common in US women during the perinatal period, and those living in the rural frontier and remote West are disproportionately affected. Factors underlying the high prevalence of these health disorders in women are complex, but poor diet is a suspected, prominent contributing factor. We propose a longitudinal, repeated-measured, observational study of perinatal women living in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. We will test the hypotheses that 1) perinatal dietary patterns of women in the rural frontier and remote West vary by key demographic variables (e.g., household income) and 2) women consuming certain dietary patterns have better mental, cognitive, and emotional wellbeing assessments compared to those consuming other types of diets. These hypotheses will be tested in two specific aims. The first aim will use validated tools to characterize acute and chronic perinatal dietary patterns of the study subjects and determine if variation in these patterns is related to household income and other key demographics. The second aim will use rigorous methodologies to document associations between dietary patterns and perinatal maternal mental health, cognitive function, and emotional wellbeing. Identification of dietary patterns associated with better maternal neurological health is the first step in designing interventions to facilitate positive behavior changes and improve prenatal care. As such, this study will provide foundational data to inform the design of and sample size calculations for future studies. This study will also increase the number of students with training in women’s health-related biomedical sciences and provide preliminary data for an R01 proposal. The long-term goal of our research program is to implement nutrition education interventions to facilitate positive dietary and behavior changes and ultimately improve nutritional and neurological health of women living in the rural frontier and remote West.