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Introduction Communities, rural or urban, have their own taboos and misconceptions regarding what type of foods to consume and avoid during pregnancy and why. In Ethiopia, as in many other developing countries, there are misconceptions on specific quality and quantity of food a pregnant woman should or should not eat during pregnancy, affecting their nutritional status. Despite this, information related to food taboos in Ethiopia is lacking. Therefore, this study assessed food taboos and related misconceptions during pregnancy in Mekelle city, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia.Method A cross-sectional study was conducted among 332 pregnant women who were in antenatal care follow-up in selected private clinics starting from January 1st up to June/30/2017. A semi-structured questionnaire consisting of closed and open ended questions was prepared in the way that it can assess the food taboo practices, types of foods avoided, and the perceived reasons for avoidance. Data were entered in to SPSS version 21 for analysis. The results were described using frequency and percentage, and presented using tables. Cross-tabulation (x 2 - test) was used to analyze the association between different socio-demographic variables and food taboo practice. Statistical significance was declared at P -value < 0.05 and 95% confidence interval (CI).Result The results of this study indicate that 11.5% of the pregnant women avoided at least one type of food during their current pregnancy because of different perceptions. The mothers were forbidden from taking food items such as yogurt, banana, legumes, honey, “kollo” (roasted barley and wheat), and spices (mustard). The most common perceptions for the avoidance of these foods were abortion, abdominal cramp to the mother and newborn, prolonged labor, and coating to the body of the fetus. Among the socio-demographic characteristics studied, educational status was found to significantly influence food taboo practices among the study participants (P |
