Objectives: Maternal diet is essential for the mother's and infant's health. Our Study aimed to evaluate the relationship between breastfeeding mothers' psychological distress and the Mediterranean diet and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet.
Methods: The data were collected in a cross-sectional survey conducted by the authors in 2021. Psychological parameters were assessed in 350 breastfeeding mothers using the Quality of Life (QL) Questionnaire, Depression Scale, Anxiety Questionnaire, and Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). A Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) assessed adherence to the MIND diet.
Results: Mothers in the highest tertile of the MIND diet had significantly lower maternal sleep disturbance scores (3.71 ± 3.61 vs. 5.28 ± 3.89; P < 0.001), lower anxiety scores (30.86 ± 7.49 vs. 32.89 ± 7.90; P-value = 0.01) and better maternal mental health (21.58 ± 3.68 vs. 20.76 ± 3.15) compared to those in the lowest tertile. After controlling for potential confounders, adherence to the MIND pattern was associated with less maternal sleep disturbance (β = 0.89; 95%CI: 0.82-0.96).
Conclusions: for practice. Adherence to the MIND diet is potentially associated with less sleep disturbance in breastfeeding mothers.
Keywords: Breastfeeding mothers; DASH diet; MIND diet; Mediterranean diet; Quality of life.
© 2025. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.