Browsing by Subject "nutritional recommendations"

Aims. The goal of this study was to examine knowledge, attitudes and practical experiences about nutritional recommendations of pregnant mothers. The study was targeted at women who were expecting their first child. The study was motivated by public discussion as well as earlier studies of how dietary nutrition may affect the health over many generations. Key Research Questions were: 1. How are the first-time mothers with different socio-demographic backgrounds experiencing nutritional recommendations and information? 2. How do different first-time mothers reconcile practical recommendations in their diet and what changes are being made in the diet? 3. Which are the challenges of eating during pregnancy as a single phase of life cycle? Methods. The research was carried out in 2018 using a quantitative research method and using a network inquiry linked to a baby-themed group in social media. 287 women answered to the inquiry. The material was analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics program. The most important frequencies were examined and the cross-tabulation and the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test were used in the analysis. Additionally, Chi-square test and independent samples t-test were used. Results and conclusions. Following the recommendations was mostly seen as easy. Those younger than 25 years of age experienced the recommendations easier. Respondents for whom compliance with the recommendations was difficult felt that the recommendations were too strict and that guidelines in different sources of information were conflicting. One third of the respondents had failed to comply with the recommendations on an occasional basis. This was mostly the result of situations where the content of the food available could not be affected. In addition, there was a discrepancy between the knowledge of the recommendations and the practical applicability of the recommendations: the respondent could experience knowing and following the recommendations, but in practice lack of knowledge could lead to deviating from the recommendations.