Comparison of Nutrients Intake among Pregnant Anemic & Non-Anemic Women

Anemia, interpreted as a low blood hemoglobin values, was considered as a major health complication in the world.  However, anemia in pregnancy is a global public health problem in the developing countries, posing high risk of adverse results for expecting mothers as well as their fetus. The aim of study was to compare nutrientschr('39') intake among pregnant anemic & non-anemic women.

A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore over a period of 4 months. The data were collected from 150 pregnant women, including 75 anemic and 75 non-anemic women, through pre-tested questionnaire using non-probability convenient sampling method. Data were tabulated and analyzed with help of SPSS version 21.0.

Analysis revealed that 34% of women had carbohydrate intake between 0-150 g/day, 44% had protein intake less than 50 g daily, and 36% had daily fat intake between 0-100 g/day. Moreover, 46.7% of the pregnant women were vitamins deficient, 51% were minerals deficient, 52% were iron deficient, 54.7% consumed tea with their meals, 44% had vitamin B3 intake less than 10 mg, 48% had vitamin C intake less than 50 mg, 48% had vitamin A intake between 0-500 RAE, 42% had calcium intake between 0-500 mg, and 31% had iron intake between 0-10 mg.

The findings showed that nutrient intake of anemic pregnant women was not sufficient in the protein rich diet; they had high consumption of tea with their meals. Their overall energy intake and micronutrients were less than the required as per recommended dietary allowance in pregnancy.