Quality of pregnant women's diet in Poland – macro-elements

INTRODUCTION The objective was to assess the quality of pregnant women's diet in Poland concerning macro-elements and to analyze reasons for low or high quality diets. MATERIAL AND METHODS Five hundred and twelve pregnant women in their 20(th) to 30(th) week of pregnancy took part in the research conducted by means of a 7-day observation of diet. Consumed products were analyzed by means of DIETETYK software developed by the Polish National Food and Nutrition Institute. Obtained macro values were averaged. The results were compared with the recommendations from the World Health Organization, European Union and Polish National Food and Nutrition Institute and analyzed statistically (χ(2) test). RESULTS The pregnant women consumed an average of 1898 ±380 kcal daily. Average value of macro components supplied with the diet did not deviate from EU and NFNI nutrition recommendations: protein - 72.1 g/person daily, fats overall - 72.8 g, polyunsaturated fatty acids - 10.93 g, cholesterol - 283 mg, carbohydrates - 257 g. The study proved a significant relation between a higher quality diet of pregnant women and tertiary or secondary education (p = 0.05) as well as urban residence (p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Pregnant women's diet in Poland is not significantly different from diet quality of pregnant women from other countries. A lower quality diet was observed among women who smoked during pregnancy and lived in rural areas.