3.

Objective: To describe nutrient intakes, characterize dietary patterns and analyse their associations with sociodemographic characteristics among pregnant women in Shaanxi, China. Design: Population-based cross-sectional survey. Setting: Twenty counties and ten districts in Shaanxi Province of Northwest China, 2013. Subjects: Women (n 7462) were recruited using a stratified multistage random sampling method to report diets during pregnancy, at 0-12 months (median 3 months; 10th-90th percentile, 0-7 months) after delivery. Results: Pregnant women had higher intakes of fat, niacin and vitamin E than the nutrient reference values, while most micronutrients such as vitamin A, folate, Ca and Zn were reportedly low. Women in the highest education, occupation and household income groups had higher nutrient intakes than those in the lowest groups. Nutrient intake differences also existed by geographic area, residence and maternal age at delivery.