Dietary practices of pregnant mothers from different ethnic groups in the Batticaloa district, Sri Lanka

Abstract

This study was aimed to investigate the dietary practices during pregnancy among mothers in the Batticaloa district. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 382 pregnant women at 12-24 weeks of pregnancy. Socio-economic and dietary data were collected by using pre tested food frequency questionnaire through face-to-face interview. Processed data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19. Of the pregnant mothers, 56% (214) were Tamils and 44% (168) were Muslims. Higher percentage of Tamil pregnant mothers reached their tertiary education level than Muslim mothers and Muslim pregnant mothers had higher income than Tamil pregnant mothers in the district. About 59% of the Muslim pregnant women and only 28% of Tamils were overweight before conception. On cereals intake 91.7% Muslim pregnant mothers and 84.1% Tamil mothers received their energy from rice. Muslim pregnant women had high tendency to eat fruits especially orange (95.2%), grapes (86.9%) and watermelon (54.2%), fish (91.7%) and beef (91.5%). Tamil women prefer to eat leafy vegetables (88.2%) and bottle gourd (58.9%). The ethnicity of the pregnant mothers highly influenced the consumption pattern of food group of meat, fruits and vegetables. Tamil pregnant mothers shows their preference to eat vegetable. And the frequency of consumption of meat is high among Muslim pregnant mothers.