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International Journal of Population Studies

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Dietary intake knowledge and reasons for food

restriction during pregnancy among pregnant

women attending primary health care centers

in Ile-Ife, Nigeria

3
1
2
Mattew O. Oluleke , Akintayo O. Ogunwale , Oyedunni S. Arulogun , and Ademola L.
4
Adelekan
1 Department of Community Health Nursing, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife,
Osun State, Nigeria
2 Department of General Studies, Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igboora, Oyo State,
Nigeria
3 Department of Health Promotion & Education, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
4 THRIVES Project, Department of Medicine, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract: The study investigated dietary intake knowledge and reasons for food restriction during preg-
nancy among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. This cross-sectional survey
involved 530 pregnant women visiting 35 primary health care (PHC) centers in Ile-Ife. Interview-
er-administered questionnaire used to collect data included a 30-point knowledge scale and food restric-
tion related questions. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square at P = 0.05. Mean
age was 27.0 ± 5.3 years, 44.5% had tertiary education and 11.1% earned above ₦50,000 monthly (ap-
proximately US$315). Mean knowledge score was 23.6 ± 4.2 and 75.5% had good knowledge. Higher
education was significantly associated with good knowledge of dietary intake. Reasons for food restric-
tion during pregnancy included cultural taboos (36.5%) and religious beliefs (12.1%). Major foods that
were restricted or avoided for cultural reasons were protein and vitamin-rich foods such as snail (97.5%)
and walnut (84.0%). Foods avoided based on religious beliefs included pork (87.4%) and dog (76.9%). A
higher proportion (94.8%) of respondents who earn more than ₦50,000 avoided foods due to cultural
taboos (94.8%) compared with those without monthly income (58.3%) (P≤0.05). The proportions of
respondents who avoided foods due to cultural taboos with no formal, primary, secondary, and tertiary
education were 95.5%, 93.8%, 79.8%, and 86.4% respectively (P≤0.05). Overall, respondents were
knowledgeable about dietary intake. However, cultural taboos and religious beliefs were major reasons
Copyright: © 2016 Mattew for food restriction among pregnant women and were more pronounced among women with low educa-
O. Oluleke, et al. This is an tion and low monthly income. Nutrition education interventions are needed to address the phenomenon.
Open Access article distri- Keywords: pregnant women, food restriction, dietary intake, cultural taboos
buted under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial 4.0 Internati- *Correspondence to: Akintayo O. Ogunwale, Department of General Studies, Oyo State College of Agriculture and Tech-
onal License (http://creative- nology, Igboora, Oyo State, Nigeria; Email: tayoogunwale@yahoo.com
commons.org/licenses/by-nc/
4.0/), permitting all non-com- Received: February 24, 2016; Accepted: April 3, 2016; Published Online: April 9, 2016
mercial use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, Citation: Oluleke M O, Ogunwale A O, Arulogun O S, et al. (2016). Dietary intake knowledge and reasons for food
provided the original work is restriction during pregnancy among pregnant women attending primary health care centers in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Interna-
properly cited. tional Journal of Population Studies, vol.2(1): 103–116. http://dx.doi.org/10.18063/IJPS.2016.01.006.

International Journal of Population Studies | 2016, Volume 2, Issue 1 103