NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND FOOD CONSUMPTION PRACTICES OF ANAEMIC AND NON-ANAEMIC PREGNANT WOMEN ATTENDING ADEOYO MATERNITY HOSPITAL, IBADAN

Abstract

Food consumption practices affect the nutritional status of pregnant women who are highly vulnerable to anaemia because of the increased physiological demand of pregnancy. The effects are severe in developing countries due to poor dietary intake, repeated cycles of pregnancy and lactation. Few studies had explored nutritional knowledge and food consumption practices of pregnant women in Nigeria. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge of pregnant women on the diets that could prevent anaemia and their foods consumption practices. This was a descriptive study which utilized a semi-structured questionnaire to collect information on socio-demographic characteristics, nutritional knowledge and food consumption practices of the respondents. Out of a total 3075 pregnant women attending Adeoyo Maternity Hospitals, lbadan between December 2003 and March 2004, 413 who met the World Health Organization cut-off point of packed-cell volume (PCV) <30% (a criterion for defining anaemia) were selected as anaemic respondents and 250 with PCV > 30% were selected as non-anaemic respondents. The Epi Info Version6.04d was used to generate frequencies statistics and comparison of variables. The mean ages of the anaemic and non-anaemic respondents were 26.7 years (SD 5.4) and 26.6 years (SD 5.1). About half (45.5%) of the anaemic had secondary education while (56.4%) of the non-anaemic had secondary education. More than one-third (41.2%) of the anaemic women were petty traders and (56.0%) of the non-anaemic were petty traders. Majority of the anaemic (90.6%) and non-anaemic (98.2%) respondents had knowledge of the right foods that could prevent anaemia such as body building foods (64.4%), (88.8%), blood building food(91.3%), (98.8%), vitamin foods (96.6%), (100%) and mineral foods (78.2%), (78.8%). The food consumption practices showed that both the anaemic and non-anaemic respondents ate a combination of foods supplying carbohydrate (e.g. pap, yam, flour, and garri), protein (e.g. fish. beef and beans), vegetables (e.g. amaranth, Okro and Corchorus olitorus) fruits (e.g. oranges and banana) and beverage (e.g. bournvita) for breakfast (97.3%), (98.0%), lunch (95.2%), (83.2%) and dinner (94.2%), (94.0%) respectively. The 24-hour dietary recall showed that the anaemic and non-anaemic women took functional foods for breakfast, (93.2%), (93.6%), for lunch (96.9%), (94.8%) and (91.8%), (90.0%) for dinner receptively. On a scale of 20 points the non-anaemic had mean knowledge of 16.6, which is significantly (P<0.05} higher than that of the anaemic (14.7). Among anaemic women more married respondents (96.1%) than never married ones (3.9%) consumed functional foods (P>0.00),a similar trend was noted for non-anaemic (99.2% v 0.8%),(p<0.05). Women with a minimum of secondary education (45.5%),(39.0%) held fewer taboos than those with lower (56.4%), (27.6%) education (P<0.05) for both anaemic and non-anaemic respondents respectively. In conclusion, both anaemic and non-anaemic respondents had high knowledge of the food to eat to prevent anaemia. Their food consumption practices showed that they took functional foods for breakfast and dinner.