Publication:

The effects of food habits on pregnancy outcome

Background Nutrition during pregnancy plays an important role for an optimum outcome of pregnancy. Maternal undernutrition can lead to poor intrauterine growth and low weight of the baby at birth. Moreover, the leading causes for maternal deaths like hemorrhage and infection are related directly or indirectly to nutrition. The aim of this study was to study the effects of food habits on pregnancy outcome.

Methods 350 women from the antenatal clinic, who satisfied the criteria were admitted to the study.

Results The majority of pregnant women belonged to the age group of 21-25 years (47%) followed by the 26-30 years age group (40%) and 83% belonged to the low socioeconomic class. Majority of the babies (66%) had the birth weight in the range of 2.5-2.9 kg. There was a significant association (p value <0.05) between the socioeconomic status of the mother, parity and her calorie intake. The present study found a statistically significant association between the maternal nutritional status, the birth weight of the baby and the need for NICU admission (p value <0.05).

Conclusions Maternal food habits have significant effects on the pregnancy outcome.