[Nutritional behaviours of pregnant women]

Errors in nourishment and unstable nutritional status of pregnant women can have a negative impact on the development of the foetus and the course of pregnancy.

THE AIM OF THE STUDY was the estimation of nutritional behaviour of pregnant women, nutritional status before pregnancy and their body weight gain during pregnancy. It is also examined whether the educational level is a factor that differentiates the manner of nourishment, and the nutritional status of the investigated women.

The investigation included 200 women, 30 of them were in I, 70 - in II, and 100 - in III trimester of pregnancy; 19% had elementary general or vocational education; 35% - secondary education; and 46% - higher education. Information about eating habits as well as body height and mass was collected by means of an anonymous questionnaire. BMI of the investigated women before pregnancy and average weekly increases of body mass during pregnancy were calculated.

The investigation has shown insufficient consumption of vegetables and fruits, milk and dairy products, wholemeal cereal products, fish or supplements containing polyunsaturated fatty acids n-3, and high consumption of sweets. The folic acid before or during pregnancy was taken by 88% of the investigated women. An insufficient body mass before pregnancy (BMI <18.5) was found in 7%, and a small body weight gain during pregnancy was found in 28.8% of women. 5% of the investigated women had both risk factors simultaneously.

A number of irregular nutritional behaviours were found among the investigated women. Most errors in nourishment were found in the group of women with elementary general or vocational education.