Food taboos and related misperceptions during pregnancy in Mekelle city, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

Introduction Most communities, rural or urban, have taboos regarding foods to avoid during pregnancy, and most have local explanations for why certain foods should be avoided. Such taboos may have health benefits, but they also can have large nutritional and health costs to mothers and fetuses. As such, understanding local pregnancy food taboos is an important public health goal, especially in contexts where food resources are limited. Despite this, information regarding food taboos is limited in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study assessed food taboos, related misconceptions, and associated factors among pregnant women in Northern Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study of 332 pregnant women in antenatal care (ANC) follow-up at selected private clinics in Mekelle city, Tigray, Ethiopa, recruited between April and May, 2017. Using a semi-structured questionnaire, we assessed whether respondents' observed food taboos, what types of foods they avoided, their perceived reasons for avoidance, diversity of respondents' diets during pregnancy, and respondents' socio-demographic characteristics. After reporting frequency statistics for categorical variables and central tendencies (mean and standard deviation) of continuous variables, bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify the socio-demographic factors and diet diversity associated with food taboo practices. Results Around 12% of the pregnant women avoided at least one type of food during their current pregnancy for one or more reasons. These mothers avoided eating items such as yogurt, banana, legumes, honey, and "kollo" (roasted barley and wheat). The most common reasons given for the avoidances were that the foods were (mistakenly) believed to cause: abortion; abdominal cramps in the mother and newborn; prolonged labor; or coating of the fetus's body. Maternal education (diploma and above) (AOR: 4.55, 95%

Cultural malpractices during labor/delivery and associated factors among women who had at least one history of delivery in selected Zones of Amhara region, North West Ethiopia: community based cross-sectional study

“…This is because we have studied on the three zones with relatively large sample size than the study done on one district. Again our finding was higher than the study done in the Tigray region (12%) [ 38 ]. This difference may be possibly explained by awareness and socio-cultural difference.…”

Food taboos among pregnant women and associated factors in eastern Ethiopia: A community-based cross-sectional study

“…Our finding is similar with the studies conducted in Ethiopia that ranged from 42% to 49% 9,13,26 and a study in Sudan (44%). 27 Nevertheless, our finding is much higher than the finding from some other studies conducted in Ethiopia, in which the prevalence of food taboos ranged from 12% to 27%, 15,21,22,28 a study in Nigeria, 29,30 Sudan, 31 and South Africa, 32 which reported a prevalence of food taboos ranging from 13% to 37%. This difference might be due to the study settings, where almost all respondents in our study were rural residents who had not attended formal education, which may affect their awareness level and had misconceptions or perceived reasons for food taboos.…”

Food taboos and their perceived reasons among pregnant women in Ethiopia: a systematic review, 2022

“…A qualitative study done in rural Tigray found that pregnant women avoided eating food items such as yogurt, banana, legumes, honey, and “kollo” (roasted barley and wheat) because these foods were believed to cause abortion, abdominal cramps in the mother and new-born, prolonged labour, or coating of the fetus’s body [ 30 ]. Another study in Mekelle city reported that around 12% of the pregnant women avoided at least one type of food during their current pregnancy for one or more reasons [ 27 ]. In perception, if a pregnant woman eats leafy vegetables, the leaf passes to the womb and attaches to the baby’s head to form some “particles” that are considered harmful to the child and are even considered to cause immediate death of the new born [ 33 ].…”