Diet Quality And Anthropometric Indices Of Lactating Mothers In Some Selected Health Centres In Umuahia:- Chinagorom, Gideon

ABSTRACT The study assessed the diet quality and Anthropometric indices oflactating mothers in some selected health centers in Umuahia Abia state. The study adopted crosssectional study comparative study which includes lactating women in the study areas. Simple random sampling was used to select respondents who gave consent to participate in the study. A validated structured questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-economic, lifestyle patterns, dietary pattern, anthropometric Status, quantitative food frequency questionnaire data collected about the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics was analyzed using descriptive analysis and was described in frequency and percentages. The questionnaire was validated by three lecturers from the department of human nutrition and dietetics. Copies of the questionnaire were administered on 287 respondents to obtain data and same were returned. The data were analyzed statistically using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). The results show that majority (89.5%) of the lactating mothers were aged between 25 and 49 years, while 8.7% and 1.7% of them were between 15 - 19years and 20 - 24years, respectively, and their mean age was 30.87 ± 5.08, where 74.2% of them had tertiary education, 18.8% had secondary education. Majority (82.0%) ofthe LM had nuts/seeds, while 18.0% did not. More than half(67.2%) ofthe LM had milk or milk products previous day, while 32.8% of them had no milk nor milk products, 72.1% had organ meat/meat/poultry/fish/seafood, while 27.9% had none of the food the previous day. The anthropometric status showed the result on body mass index, 2.8%, 33.4%, and 16.4%, of the LM were underweight, overweight and obese, respectively, while 47.4% of them had normal weight. The Dietary diversity and anthropometric status shows that among socioeconomic factors, income had a negative significant association (P < 0.05) with body mass index status of the lactating mothers, with a correlation (r = 0.166), also negative significant association (P < 0.05) between body mass index and waist-hip ratio, with a correlation (r = 0.266). Therefore this study findings shows low MDD among lactating women and needs to target lactating mothers to promote awareness about the importance of a balanced and diverse diet during this critical period.