Study on food consumption pattern of pregnant women at Kattankudy area of Batticaloa district

Abstract

This study was conducted in antenatal health care clinics at Kattankudy Divisional Secretariat area of Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka during March 2014 to June 2014 to assess the consumption pattern of pregnant women. A total of 56 pregnant women at second trimester period were randomly selected for the study. Pre tested questionnaire was used to collect data and frequency of food consumption were estimated using food frequency questionnaire. Weight and height were measured using standard techniques. Body fat percentage was measured using Warrior digital Body Mass Caliper. Processed data was analyzed using Descriptive statistics and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version16. Results indicated that about 87.5% of the pregnant women were between the age ranges of 20-35. Among them 92.5% had secondary education, 44.6% and 37.5% earn income through labour and business respectively. Majority of the pregnant women (87.5%) obtained their energy from rice on a daily basis while 62.5% and 57.1% got their protein from chicken and beef curry respectively, on a weekly basis. Further orange (30.4%) accounted for the mostly consumed fruit and okra (55.4%) was the mostly consumed vegetable on a weekly basis. In terms of milk, 48.2% consumed daily, while curd and yogurt were consumed once in a week by 26.8% and 21.4%, respectively. Further, the study revealed that, fruit and vegetable consumption by the pregnant women was low in the study area, Therefore, dietary interventions like awareness campaign to sensitize the pregnant women to improve their healthy eating behavior especially fruits, vegetables and dairy products to prevent adverse health consequences.