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

Autor: Lemlem Weldegerima Gebremariam, Freweini Gebrearegay Tela, Selemawit Asfaw Beyene
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Physiology
Maternal Health
Abortion
Logistic regression
Continuous variable
Geographical Locations
Eating
0302 clinical medicine
Pregnancy
Medicine and Health Sciences
Medicine
030212 general & internal medicine
media_common
Multidisciplinary
digestive
oral
and skin physiology
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Body Fluids
Milk
Marital status
Female
Anatomy
0305 other medical science
Research Article
Adult
medicine.medical_specialty
media_common.quotation_subject
Science
Beverages
03 medical and health sciences
Antenatal Care
Environmental health
Taboo
Humans
Cities
Nutrition
Demography
030505 public health
business.industry
Public health
Biology and Life Sciences
medicine.disease
Diet
Nutrition Assessment
Food
People and Places
Africa
Women's Health
Ethiopia
business
Physiological Processes
Diversity (politics)
Zdroj: PLoS ONE, Vol 15, Iss 10, p e0239451 (2020)
PLoS ONE
ISSN: 1932-6203
Popis: IntroductionMost 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.MethodsA 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.ResultsAround 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% CI: 1.93, 10.31) and marital status (single) were found to be negatively associated (protective factors) with observances of pregnancy food taboos. Approximately 79% of respondents had pregnancy diets that were insufficiently diverse, although we did not find any statistical evidence that this was associated with adhering to food taboos.ConclusionThe misconceptions related to pregnancy food taboos should be discouraged insofar as they may restrict women's consumption of nutritious foods which could support maternal health and healthy fetal development. Health providers should counsel pregnant women and their husbands about appropriate pregnancy nutrition during ANC visits.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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