Dietary intake and beliefs of pregnant women with gestational diabetes in Cape Town, South Africa
Date
2018
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI
Abstract
This study investigated the dietary intake of pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and their beliefs relating to the consumption of fruits and vegetables (F&V) and sugary foods and drinks. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 239 pregnant women with GDM in Cape Town. Dietary intake was assessed using a quantified Food Frequency Questionnaire and beliefs relating to food choices were assessed using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). The mean energy intake was 7268 KJ, carbohydrate was 220 (±104.5) g, protein 60.3 (±27.5) g and fat 67.7 (±44.2) g. The macronutrient distribution was 55% carbohydrates, 14.5% protein and 30.5% fat of total energy. The majority of the sample had inadequate intakes of vitamin D (87.4%), folate (96.5%) and iron (91.3%). The median (IQR) amount of added table sugar and sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) was 4.0 (0.00–12.5) g and 17.9 (0.0–132.8) mL per day, respectively. Only 31.4% met the recommendation (400 g per day) for F&V. Beliefs that it was not easy to exclude sugary foods/drinks and that knowing how to control cravings for sugary foods/drinks are areas to target messages on the sugar content of SSBs. In conclusion, the dietary intake of these women was not optimal and fell short of several nutritional guidelines for pregnant women with hyperglycaemia. The strongly held beliefs regarding sugary foods/drinks may contribute to poor adherence to nutritional guidelines among pregnant women with GDM in South Africa.
Description
CITATION: Krige, S. M., et al. 2018. Dietary intake and beliefs of pregnant women with gestational diabetes in Cape Town, South Africa. Nutrients, 10(9):1183, doi:10.3390/nu10091183.
The original publication is available at http://www.mdpi.com
The original publication is available at http://www.mdpi.com
Keywords
Diabetes in pregnancy -- Cape Town (South Africa), Pregnancy -- Nutritional aspects -- Cape Town (South Africa), Pregnant women -- Weight gain -- Cape Town (South Africa)
Citation
Krige, S. M., et al. 2018. Dietary intake and beliefs of pregnant women with gestational diabetes in Cape Town, South Africa. Nutrients, 10(9):1183, doi:10.3390/nu10091183