Evaluation of Nutritional Knowledge and Pattern of Food Consumption in Pregnant Women Referred to Babol Health Centers

Background: Choosing a well-balanced diet is one of the most important points in nutrition for pregnant women. Therefore, the diet of a pregnant woman should be varied, using 4 to 5 main food groups and avoiding overeating and undereating. The purpose of present study was to determine the nutritional knowledge of pregnant women and their food consumption patterns in health centers of Babol.Material and method: A cross-sectional study was performed on 480 pregnant women. For each participant, three questionnaires including nutritional awareness, food frequency and general characteristics were completed by trained and experienced interviewers. Nutritional awareness and food consumption patterns were categorized according to the number of correct responses to good, moderate, and poor.Result: Overall, 65.6% of the samples had moderate nutritional awareness. The most important source of information was through health personnel (32%) and through radio and television (29.6%). There was a significant relationship between nutritional awareness and women s education (p = 0.002). The pattern of food intake was also moderate in 76.7% of pregnant women. There was a statistically significant relationship between dietary pattern and age of pregnant woman (p = 0.01). Also, there was a significant relationship between the consumption of stewed vegetables in different ways (fresh, dry, etc.) and the consumption of beverages with food and the education level of pregnant women (p = 0.03, 0.001). The most consumed foods of all food groups included yogurt, citrus, solid vegetable oil, tomato, onion, potato, vegetable, barley bread and egg.Conclusion: Overall, the majority of pregnant women had a relatively good level of food consumption. They were favorable. But their nutritional information level was average. Therefore, the need for proper nutritional education for pregnant mothers in order to increase nutritional awareness and identify different nutritional groups with emphasis on 4-5 main nutritional groups is necessary to change their eating habits.

Keywords:

Nutritional Awareness , Nutrition Habits , Food Consumption Pattern , Pregnancy