Pregnant Women Diet Quality and Its Sociodemographic Determinants in Southwestern Bangladesh

BACKGROUND: Diet diversity of pregnant women is associated with nutrition sufficiency, micronutrient adequacy, and pregnancy outcomes. However, the sociodemographic determinants of diet diversity among pregnant women in low-income countries are not well studied. OBJECTIVE: The analysis was undertaken to study the determinants of high dietary diversity and consumption of micronutrient-rich foods by pregnant women from rural Bangladesh. METHODS: Pregnant women (508) were randomly selected from southwestern Bangladesh and interviewed to collect data about diet and sociodemographic characteristics. A 24-hour recall was used to collect information about diet. Diet diversity score was calculated for 9 major food groups. All analyses were conducted using STATA SE 12. RESULT: The overall mean diet diversity score was low at 4.28 and was significantly high…