Changes in women's dietary diversity before and during pregnancy in Southern Benin.

Diane R A Djossinou,D Joseph Hounhouigan,Emmanuel Yovo,Nadia Fanou‐Fogny,Agnès Gartner,Edwige Landais,Valérie Briand,Yves Martin‐Prevel,Manfred Accrombessi,Mathilde Savy

doi:10.1111/mcn.12906

Abstract

Dietary diversity before and during pregnancy is crucial to ensure optimal foetal health and development. We carried out a cohort study of women of reproductive age living in the Sô‐Ava and Abomey‐Calavi districts (Southern Benin) to investigate women's changes in dietary diversity and identify their determinants both before and during pregnancy. Nonpregnant women were enrolled (n = 1214) and followed up monthly until they became pregnant (n = 316), then every 3 months during pregnancy. One 24‐hr dietary recall was administered before conception and during each trimester of pregnancy. Women's dietary diversity scores (WDDS) were computed, defined as the number of food groups out of a list of 10 consumed by the women during the past 24 hr. The analysis included 234 women who had complete data. Mixed‐effects linear regression models were used to examine changes in the WDDS over the entire follow‐up, while controlling for the season, subdistrict, socio‐demographic, and economic factors. At preconception, the mean WDDS was low (4.3 ± 1.1 food groups), and the diet was mainly composed of cereals, oils, vegetables, and fish. The mean WDDS did not change during pregnancy and was equally low at all trimesters. Parity and household wealth index were positively associated with the WDDS before and during pregnancy in the multivariate analysis. Additional research is needed to better understand perceptions of food consumption among populations, and more importantly, efforts must be made to encourage women and communities in Benin to improve the diversity of their diets before and during pregnancy.

Highlights

The transition from the Millennium Development Goals to the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 placed the health and well‐ being of women and adolescents at the centre of the global agenda (De‐Regil, Harding, & Roche, 2016; Mason et al, 2014)
Dietary diversity scores of reproductive age women were low in semiurban areas of Southern Benin and less than 41% of women reached the minimum dietary diversity for women
Women's dietary diversity scores did not change during pregnancy compared with the preconception period, with small variations in the consumption of some food groups such as eggs, dairy products, fruits, and dark green leafy vegetables

Summary

Introduction

The transition from the Millennium Development Goals to the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 placed the health and well‐ being of women and adolescents at the centre of the global agenda (De‐Regil, Harding, & Roche, 2016; Mason et al, 2014). In the literature, randomised and observational studies related to pregnancy, and less frequently to the preconception period, focused primarily on women's micronutrient status and supplementation, in particular with regard to multivitamins, iron, and folic acid (Khan et al, 2011; Potdar et al, 2014; Salcedo‐Bellido et al, 2017; Sengpiel et al, 2014; Zheng et al, 2015). Poor dietary diversity during pregnancy has been documented in many contexts, in low and middle‐income countries (Lee, Talegawkar, Merialdi, & Caulfield, 2013). Several studies showed that beliefs about certain foods, cultural taboos, misinformation, lack of knowledge, personal aversion, and lack of appetite could affect women's diets during pregnancy (Huybregts et al, 2009; Kavle & Landry, 2018; Riang’a, Nangulu, & Broerse, 2017)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion