KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PATTERNS OF FRUIT CONSUMPTION AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN IN IDO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Nutrient intake is important to the well-being of pregnant women and the foetus. The importance of fruits intake in pregnancy is for foetal growth development and reduction of complications associated with inadequate nutrition in pregnancy. Few documented studies have indepthly assess the knowledge and practice of fruits consumption pattern among pregnant women in Oyo State. Therefore, this study was designed to assess the knowledge, attitude and pattern of fruits consumption among pregnant women in Ido Local Government Area, Oyo State. A descriptive cross-sectional study using a three-stage sampling technique was employed to select 120 consenting pregnant women in the community. A semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to elicit information on respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge of and attitude to fruits consumption. Knowledge of fruit consumption was measured on a 27-point scale; scores of 8, >8-18 and >18 were categorised as poor, fair and good respectively. The attitude towards fruits consumption was measured on an 8-point scale: scores of 4, and >4 were categorised as negative and positive respectively. Data were analysed and results presented using descriptive statistics, Chi-square test and logistic regression test at p=0.05. The respondents’ age was 28.6±4.4 years and 62.5% had completed secondary education with income ranging from ₦1000 to ₦80000 per month. More than half (59.2%) had poor knowledge of fruits consumption with a score of 20.2±2.9. There was a significant relationship between respondent’s educational level and knowledge of fruit consumption. Majority (90.8%) had a positive attitude towards fruits consumption with an attitude score of 5.5±0.9. Majority (94.2%) of the respondents consumed at least one fruit per week preceding the survey. However, mixed fruits consumption was low (5.8%): twenty seven percent (27.0%) of the respondents consumed fruits twice during the same period. Most commonly consumed fruits during pregnancy were oranges (23.7%), watermelon (14.7%) and pineapple (12.0%). Few (10.8%) disliked consumption of fruits especially paw-paw and grape while (26.1%) avoided them during pregnancy. Only 7.5% reported fruit taboos such as dika fruit (oro) and guava. A significant relationship was established between educational level, income and frequency of fruit consumption. The major barriers to fruit consumption were inadequate nutritional knowledge on the importance of fruits (67.5%), seasonal variation of fruits (64.2%), perishability of fruits (55.8%) and non-availability of desired fruit (45.8%). Respondents with tertiary education were more likely to have good knowledge about fruit consumption than respondents with secondary and primary education (OR=5.04 C.I. 0.38- 3.71). Respondents with low income were less likely to consume fruits (OR=6.7 C.I. 2.2- 2.0) while respondents with secondary education were more likely to have low consumption pattern of fruits compared with respondents with tertiary education (OR=8.4 C.I. 3.24- 21.67). Poor knowledge and low consumption of fruits during pregnancy existed among the pregnant women despite their positive attitudinal disposition towards fruits consumption. Health promotion strategies such as health education, awareness campaign and community sensitisation targeted at pregnant women at the community level are needed to address this gap.