UNAIR NEWS – A study in 2013 stated that one out of four pregnant women in Indonesia experience Chronic Energy Deficiency (KEK) consisting of 37.1% anemia and 24.3% iodine deficiency. It inspired Rian Diana, SP., M. Si to find out the reasons why pregnant women are still included in the group vulnerable to malnutrition.
Special attention is emphasized that the low nutritional status of pregnant women can cause premature birth, low birth weight, or even other dangerous risks. One of the factors why this is happening is due to the diet of pregnant women.
Using the Alternate Healthy Eating Index for Pregnancy (AHEI-P) developed in America, Rian assessed the quality of the diet of pregnant women.
“In Indonesia, there is no assessment on the quality diet, especially for pregnant women. In this study, we adapted the AHEI-P based on the guidelines for balanced nutrition that applies in Indonesia, ” she explained.
Furthermore, Rian uses semi-quantitative food frequency (SQ-FFQ) data and 9 AHEI-P indicators where each indicator has a score of 10 on adjusting Indonesia’s balanced nutrition guidelines including maximum scores for fiber, iron, energy, and protein. Dietary quality categories are divided into 4, poor quality (unadapted, 72; adapted,> 88) while the nutritional status is seen from the increase in the weight of pregnant women.
The study, which was conducted with 145 pregnant women in Sumenep Regency, Madura, showed that participants whose weight was not sufficiently increased had a low quality diet score. The results also showed a tendency that pregnant women with low quality diets had poor nutritional status.
“However, there is no significant relationship statistically between diet quality (AHEI-P and AHEI-P adapted) with the nutritional status of pregnant women. It can be caused by many factors affecting the nutritional status of pregnant women. The quality of diet is related to the quantity of the diet. Therefore, it will be difficult to maintain an ideal weight gain if the quantity of the diet is not enough, “concluded Rian.
With this study, Rian hoped that her participants will have awareness related to the importance of maintaining a good quantity and quality of diet, as well as other pregnant women throughout Indonesia.
Author: Tsania Ysnaini Mawardi
Editor: Nuri Hermawan
Details of the study available at Pakistan Journal of Nutrition. https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=pjn.2018.530.534
Dewi RK, Khomsan A, Riyadi H, Diana R. (2019). Dietary Quality and Nutritional Status of Pregnant Women in Sumenep Regency, Madura, Indonesia. Pakistan Journal of Nutrition., 17 (11): 530-534, 2018. DOI Number: 10.3923/pjn.2018.530.534
