The nutritional knowledge of pregnant women
Journal Title: Polish Journal of Public Health - Year 2014, Vol 124, Issue 4
Abstract
Introduction. Rational nutrition of women during pregnancy has a great influence on the developing fetus. In the properly developing pregnancy, woman should eat 3-4 quality meals per day. What is more, for the proper development of the fetus, as well as the placenta, uterus and the mammary gland, it is necessary to consume high-value protein products. Moreover, vitamins and mineral compounds are important due to the serious implications that arise if not properly provided. Aim. The aim of the paper is to assess the nutritional practices, the level of knowledge held by pregnant women with respect to proper nourishment practices, and to define the influence of level of formal education achieved upon this issue. Material and methods. The research involved 87 pregnant women who were under the care of the outpatient women’s health centre and high-risk pregnancy unit of the Regional Specialist Hospital in Biała Podlaska. Results and discussion. According to most of the female respondents, information concerning proper nutrition of pregnant women is not generally available. Because of this, in completing the questionnaire, more than half of the subjects stated that they often consume white bakery products, white rice and refined pasta – with insufficient consumption of brown bread, rice and wholemeal pasta. Furthermore, while the respondents seem to consume the proper amount of potatoes, barely 8% consume other vegetables with the advised frequency. Moreover, only 31% of the respondents take-in fruits in necessary quantities. However, a majority of them frequently consume milk, yoghurt, cheese, kefir and buttermilk; plus, more than half of the respondents drink at least 1-2 litres of various kinds of liquids per day. Our results also reveal that they very rarely consume fresh fish, poultry and red beef meat, preferring cooked products. Indeed, the respondents stated that they consume meat and fish mainly in a fried form, while 52.9% of the women take-in fast food products. Of note, the surveyed women prefer animal fats. In addition, nearly 70% of the subjects consume too many eggs. Furthermore, more than 40% consume an excessive amount of sugar and sweets. To conclude, the proper amount of meals is consumed by only 52.7% of the respondents, no matter their formal education level. Conclusions. Many abnormalities were found while verifying negatively the hypothesis, according to which, level of formal education achieved has an impact on the increase of consciousness in terms of proper nourishment during the pregnancy.
Authors and Affiliations
Piotr Książek, Joanna Kozłowiec, Monika Kozłowiec
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP127145
- DOI 10.1515/pjph-2015-0006
- Views 101
- Downloads 0
Bad eating habits - a hazard to health in the population of children and youth
[b]Introduction[/b]. Eating habits make up an important group of risk factors involving many diseases. For many years, there has been research carried on in various scientific and research centres with reference to eatin...
Institutional and informal support for disabled people
Disability is a social phenomenon gradually increasing in size both in Poland and in many other European countries. At the same time, it is one of the most important aspects of the health status. Its causes include a reg...
The diagnosis of excessive body mass and body fat in 18-year-old youth – assessment of comparability of results obtained on the basis of BMI and BIA methods
Introduction. A systematic increase in the frequency of excessive body mass in young Poles is an argument supporting the need for identification persons with the increased risk. It is justified to test the level of compa...
The use of electronic medical records in primary health care in the Podlaskie Voivodeship
[b]Introduction[/b]. Despite the statutory obligation to keep medical records only in electronic form from August 1, 2014, there are no publications in the scientific literature on the current level of preparation of ins...
Znaczenie badań spirometrycznych w diagnostyce i monitorowaniu leczenia astmy
Astma i przewlekła obturacyjna choroba płuc (POChP) są często ze sobą mylone, a dodatkowo lekarze pierwszego kontaktu zbyt rzadko zlecają badanie spirometryczne w celu zdiagnozowania pacjenta, u którego występuje dusznoś...