Influence of Maternal Dietary Diversity on the Risk of Low Birth Weight of Neonates in the Cape Coast Metropolis of Ghana

Abstract

Epidemiological studies have suggested that adequate diet during pregnancy may have beneficial effects on fetal growth, development and neonatal birth outcomes including low birth weight (LBW). However, few studies have investigated the relationship between dietary diversity and birth outcomes in Ghana. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the association between maternal dietary diversity and the risk of LBW in the Cape Coast metropolis. The subjects were 420 mothers who received Antenatal care (ANC) and delivered at the Cape Coast Metropolitan Hospital. A food frequency questionnaire was used to collect dietary information on the frequency of consumption of food items per week during pregnancy. In reference to the FAO womens Dietary Diversity Score (DDS), the subjects were categorized into low, medium or high DDS. Primary outcome was LBW, defined as weight at birth less than 2 500g. The prevalence of LBW was 43.8%, which was higher in the low DDS group (47.8%) than high DDS group (11.4%) (p<0.0001). Mothers in the low DDS group had lower frequencies of the intakes of grains, meat, eggs, and fruits than those in the medium and high DDS groups. After adjusting for potential confounding variables, the risk of LBW in the low DDS group (OR= 4.29 95% CI, 1.24-4.08) was four times higher than in the high DDS group. Three dietary patterns namely "western", "traditional" and "healthy" which explained 58.23% of variability were identified. After adjusting for potential confounding variables, the subjects in the highest quartile of healthy and traditional dietary pattern score had significantly lower LBW risk (healthy: OR= 0.23 95% CI, 0.40-0.90, P trend <0.0001

traditional: OR= 0.14 95% CI, 0.06-0.35, P trend <0.0001 than those in the lower quartiles of dietary pattern score. The results of this study reinforce the significance of adequate nutrition during pregnancy. Counselling and educating mothers on the most appropriate nutritional practices during pregnancy are important to prevent LBW in the study area.