Assessment of Knowledge and Attitude towards Adequate Diet Practices of Pregnant Women Attending Ante-natal Clinic at University College and Adeoyo Maternity Hospitals, Oyo State, Nigeria

Adequate knowledge of nutritional status and health of pregnant women is very important because it determines the health of the developing foetus due to the connection between the mother and child. This study was carried out to assess the knowledge and attitude towards adequate diet practices of pregnant women attending ante-natal clinic at University College Hospital and Adeoyo Maternity Hospital. A total of 386 pregnant women were randomly selected from the two (2) hospitals and a well-structured questionnaire was used for collection of data. Descriptive statistics was used for data analysis. More than half (58.8%) of the respondents were within the age group 26-30 years old. Results revealed that 65% of the respondents have fair knowledge of nutritional diet during pregnancy while 35% of them have good knowledge of nutritional diet during pregnancy respectively. Furthermore, most (66.7%) of the respondents have positive attitude towards adequate diet during pregnancy while 33.3% have negative attitude towards adequate diet during pregnancy respectively. The pregnant women were not eating more quantity and variety of foods more than what they normally consume before pregnancy nor took dairy products daily in their meal and also claimed inability to afford sufficient quantity and quality of adequate diet recommended for them. Based on respondents lifestyle, results indicated that majority (69.9%) of the respondents engaged in physical exercise in form of brisk walking and dancing. This study suggest that pregnant women needs to be educated on nutrition and practices of adequate diet during pregnancy.