Dietary Practices and Nutritional Awareness among Pregnant Women Living in Semi-urban City of Erode District, Tamilnadu, India

Abstract

Background: Nutritional intake in pregnancy is vital to supply essential nutrients for fetal growth and development. Objectives: (1) To assess existing dietary practices in pregnant women; (2) To measure the level of nutritional awareness in pregnant women; (3) To associate the level of nutritional awareness with their selected demographic characteristics. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on pregnant mothers who visited the antenatal clinic of a private hospital in the semi-urban city of Erode district, Tamilnadu. Formal permission was granted by the hospital authority, and written informed consent was obtained from all the participants, 128 women, who agreed to participate in the study. Demographic proforma, dietary practice questionnaire, and structured knowledge questionnaire were tools used to collect the data. The collected data was assessed utilising both descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Out of 128 participants, 72 (56.26%) were among the age group of 21 to 25 years; 52 (40.63%) were in the third trimester of pregnancy; 72 (56.25%) were primigravida; 112 (87.50%) did not have any chronic illness. Dietary practice status revealed, the majority (100) of them consumed green leafy vegetables daily; 48 of them took nuts; half of them (64) ate fruits; 56 subjects took eggs every day and nearly three fourth of mothers (84) took non-vegetarian once a week. Further, all of them took 3 major meals; the least number 12 (9.37%) had midmorning snacks; the majority 72 (56.25%) drank 7–8 glasses of water a day. Level of nutritional awareness showed, very few 20 (15.62) had adequate; half of the mothers had 68 (53.13%) moderately adequate; nearly one-third of them 40 (31.25%) had inadequate level. The association between the levels of nutritional awareness with selected demographic characteristics showed statistical significance only for education and gravida status. Conclusion: The present study findings point out there is a need to organize nutritional interventional program to improve nutritional awareness including healthy dietary practices among pregnant women.