Assessment of the dietary habits of pregnant women

Medical Review (Med. pregled), 2024, 60(6), 48-54.

R. Chamova

Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Medical University – Varna

Abstract. Aim: To study the dietary habits of pregnant women in Bulgaria through a survey and to analyze the risk of possible nutritional deficiencies. Methods: An online anonymous survey of the dietary habits of pregnant women living in Bulgaria was conducted. The Google Forms application was used to create the questionnaire. The survey was distributed on the social media Viber and Facebook using the “snowball” technique. The demographic profile of the surveyed women, their eating patterns, the frequency of consumption of specific food and beverage groups, the adoption of alternative eating patterns, etc., were examined. The assessment of respondent dietary habits was based on national recommendations for nutrition during pregnancy. Descriptive analysis of the results was performed using the statistical software package Jamovi ver. 2.3.0. Results: A total of 117 pregnant women were surveyed, with an average age of 30.5 (±4.85) years. Among the respondents, the majority were first timew pregnant women – 78.6%. With the onset of pregnancy, 72.6% reported changes in their dietary habits. The relative percentage of surveyed women consuming milk every day was 41%, while those consuming dairy products daily were 47%. None of the surveyed women reported abstaining from dairy product consumption, but 5.1% did not consume milk. The proportion of women who rarely or never consumed fish was 58.1% and 12%, respectively. Among the surveyed women, the highest relative percentage was observed for those who did not consume alcohol at all – 88.9%. Conclusion: Among the surveyed women, low fish consumption and a high frequency of consuming sugary and confectionery products were identified. Among the respondents, some also rarely or never consume certain healthy food products, putting them at risk of deficiency or deficit of certain nutritional substances.

Key words: pregnancy, nutrition, metabolic disorders, neurological development, frequency of food intake

Address for correspondence: Assoc. Prof. Rositsa Chamova, MD, e-mail: rositsa.chamova@mu-varna.bg