Food taboos practice and associated factors among pregnant women attending antenatal care at Doctor Bogalech Gebre memorial general hospital, Durame town, Southern Ethiopia, 2022.

Abstract

Food taboos are customs that prevent certain foods and beverages from being consumed within a society for religious and cultural reasons. Due to the restriction of essential foods and beverages, it has a significant negative health impact on pregnant women and offspring. However, there is a lack of data regarding Ethiopian food taboos practices in general and in this study area particularly. To assess the magnitude of food taboos practice and associated factors among pregnant women in Dr. Bogalech Gebre memorial general Hospital, Durame Town, Southern Ethiopia. An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 422 pregnant women from August 1 to 30, 2022 by using systematic sampling techniques. Data were entered into epi-data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 26 for further analysis. Statistical significance was declared at a P-value < 0.05 with a 95% Confidence level. From the total 422 pregnant mothers, 54.5% (95% CI 49.90-59.20) of them encounter food taboos practice at least for one food item. The age group of pregnant mothers was 25-34 years [AOR = 0.48, 95% CI (0.28-0.84)]; the number of family size was 4-6 were [AOR = 0.42, 95% CI (0.19-0.88)]. Previous antenatal care [AOR = 1.64, 95% CI (1.02-2.66)], change feeding habit [AOR = 1.52, 95% CI (1.02-2.33)], and nausea and vomiting during pregnancy [AOR = 1.83, 95% CI (1.16-2.91)] were significantly associated with food taboos practice. The magnitude of food taboos practice among pregnant women was public health problems. Age, family size, previous antenatal care follow-up, changing feeding habits, and nausea and vomiting during pregnancy were found to be factors affecting food taboos practice.