Income Level but Not Nutrition Knowledge Is Associated with Dietary Diversity of Rural Pregnant Women from Northern Ghana

Abstract

Essential nutrients are necessary for reducing the risk of maternal mortality, prenatal mortality, and low-birthweight infants. Dietary diversity can play an important role in supplying essential nutrients to both the mother and the foetus. We evaluated nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and dietary diversity of pregnant women. In addition, we investigated the sociodemographic determinants of dietary diversity among pregnant women from a rural district in Ghana. Participants were pregnant women receiving antenatal care from a rural district hospital in Ghana. Dietary diversity was measured using a 24-hour dietary recall questionnaire. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the sociodemographic characteristics of dietary diversity. About 85% of the pregnant women knew that they should eat more in comparison to nonpregnant women, and only 16.9% knew the importance of folic acid supplementation during pregnancy. Mean (SD) dietary diversity score of the participants was 5.27 (1.35), 85.4% did not consume any fruits, and 82.3% did not take milk and milk products. Almost all participants took at least one food item in the starchy staples and green leafy vegetables food groups. Moreover, 53% consumed vitamin A-rich fruits, vegetables, and tubers; 7.7% organ meats; and 30.8% eggs. Those who earned a monthly income of ≥GHC 500 or US$ 87 (B = 1.82; 0.90–2.73; p < 0.001 ) significantly had higher dietary diversity scores compared to those who earned less. Dietary diversity of the pregnant women was suboptimal. The consumption of vitamin A- and iron-rich foods was inadequate. Income was an important determinant of the dietary diversity of pregnant women from Northern rural Ghana.

Dietary Diversity Among Pregnant Women in Gurage Zone, South Central Ethiopia: Assessment Based on Longitudinal Repeated Measurement

“…Women having nutrition-related education were less likely to have sub-optimal dietary diversity in comparison to those who did not get information. Similar findings had been reported from Malawi, 39 Ghana, 40 and from the Southwest and Northwest regions of Ethiopia. 41 , 42 Improvement in nutritional knowledge improves dietary practice, which favors dietary diversity.…”

Serum concentration of zinc, copper, iron, and its associated factors among pregnant women of small-scale farming in western Ethiopia

“…Previous research found that pregnant women in Ethiopia, Kenya, and India who reported a lack of dietary diversity were considerably more likely to be from low-income families 38,39 . Moreover, in Ghana, those with a higher monthly income had significantly greater dietary diversity scores than those with a lower income 40 . At the same time, a study in China found that low income was connected to developing a micro-nutrient deficit 41 .…”

Nutrition-Related Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices, and Anemia Status of Lactating Mothers in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo—A Cross-Sectional Analysis

“…The K- and P-Scores iron were not related. Also, studies in Africa [ 33 , 35 , 40 , 43 , 47 , 62 , 63 , 64 ] and Asia [ 33 , 65 , 66 , 67 ] and a review of studies in mainly industrialized countries [ 68 ] mostly found positive, often weak associations of nutritional knowledge/having received nutrition information with dietary intake, dietary diversity, food variety, or consumption of animal foods among (pregnant) mothers, caregivers, and the community.…”