Practices Relating to Dietary Intake of Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinic at Primary Healthcare Centres in Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Background: Inadequate dietary intake during pregnancy is a primary proximate determinant of poor maternal and child health. Maternal dietary practices related information is useful for designing appropriate interventions. This study was therefore designed to document dietary intake-related practices of pregnant women attending Antenatal Clinics (ANCs) in Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

Design and Methods: The cross-sectional study involved a total of 530 consenting women attending ANCs in 35 primary health care centers. A pre-tested questionnaire which included participants’ socio-demographic information and dietary practices measures were used to collect data. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square.

Results: Respondents' mean age was 27.0±5.3 years, 44.5% had tertiary education, 70.7% earned below ₦30,000 (about $83) monthly. A majority (97.2%) always take dinner, 96.8% take lunch, and the least taken food was breakfast (95.1%). Pap with beans-cake, Rice with beef stew, and ‘amala’ (yam or cassava flour meal) with ‘ewedu’ (Jute leaf soup) topped the list of foods that were mostly taken for breakfast, lunch and dinner respectively. Most (77.7%) respondents eat more than three times daily and pastries (60.9%) topped the list of snacks they consumed. Significantly, a higher proportion (30.2%) of participants aged 14 - 24 years eat 3 times or less compared with those aged 25- 34 years (18.6%) and 35 and above years (21.6%).

Conclusions: Participants especially older persons eat more than three times per day. However, breakfast was the most skipped meal. Diets often taken as dinner were ‘heavy meals' and snacks often taken in between meals were pastries. Nutrition education interventions are required to address the phenomenon.