Abstract

  The nutritional status of a woman during pregnancy is important, as such optimal diet impacts negatively on the health of the mother the fetus and newborn. This study assessed the nutritional status of pregnant women living in different socioeconomic conditions in Rivers State. a cross-sectional study was carried out amongst pregnant women attending selected government health centres in Port Harcourt. A total of 150 (19 - 48 years), consisting of pregment women were selected for the study. Demographic data were collected using structed questionnaires, the data were analyzed using SPSS version 16. The result reviewed that majority (64.6%) of the respondents reported being married most (45.9%) of them where 19 - 33 years of age and 8% of the pregnant women eats once in a day, while 60% eats thrice a day. About 53.3% of the pregnant women under study eats breakfast daily. It was also observed that 100% of them consume vegetables. Varieties of food were being eaten by the participants, like rice with a percentage of 90 among others. Based on the findings of this study, it was therefore recommended that pregnant women should eat healthy and nutritious foods along with fruits and vegetables with adequate proteinous foods for the well growth and development of the unborn.

Keywords: Food; Dietary; Pregnant Women

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Citation

Citation: Wordu GO and Akusu MO. “Dietary Practices and Food Preferences of Pregnant Women in Port Harcourt Metropolis, Nigeria". Acta Scientific Nutritional Health 4.3 (2020): 45-48.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Wordu GO and Akusu MO. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.