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Dietary diversity is defined as the consumption of an adequate variety of food groups which ahs been accepted as an aspect of dietary quality and can indicate nutritional adequacy. (1) Pregnancy is a critical period in the lifecycle during which additional nutrients are required to meet the metabolic and physiological demands as well as the increased requirements of the growing fetus (2). Lack of diversity is a particularly severe problem among poor populations in the developing countries. The vulnerability is serious in children and pregnant and lactating mothers (3). In developing countries, diets of pregnant women predominantly are plant based (cereals), and provide unbalanced macronutrients and inadequate micronutrients (4). Nutrition during pregnancy is a significant public health concern (2).
Nutritional status before pregnancy and intake of diversified food during pregnancy are most important since they are known to affect pregnancy and birth outcomes (5, 6). During the prenatal period, the developing fetus obtains all of its nutrients through the placenta, so diversified dietary intake has to meet the needs of the mother as well as the produces of conception, and enable the mother to lay down stores of nutrients required for the development of the fetus (7). |
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