Dietary Intake and Beliefs of Pregnant Women with Gestational Diabetes in Cape Town, South Africa
by
Stephanie M. Krige 1, Sharmilah Booley 1, Naomi S. Levitt 2,3, Tawanda Chivese 3,4,5, Katherine Murphy 3 and Janetta Harbron 1,*
Stephanie M. Krige 1, Sharmilah Booley 1, Naomi S. Levitt 2,3, Tawanda Chivese 3,4,5, Katherine Murphy 3 and Janetta Harbron 1,*
1
Division of Human Nutrition, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7925, South Africa
2
Division of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7925, South Africa
3
Chronic Disease Initiative for Africa, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7925, South Africa
4
MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa
5
Biostats Unit, Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town 7599, South Africa
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Nutrients 2018, 10(9), 1183; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10091183
Received: 13 June 2018 / Revised: 22 August 2018 / Accepted: 23 August 2018 / Published: 28 August 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrient Requirements and Dietary Intakes of Women during Pregnancy)
This study investigated the dietary intake of pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and their beliefs relating to the consumption of fruits and vegetables (F&V) and sugary foods and drinks. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 239 pregnant women with GDM in Cape Town. Dietary intake was assessed using a quantified Food Frequency Questionnaire and beliefs relating to food choices were assessed using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). The mean energy intake was 7268 KJ, carbohydrate was 220 (±104.5) g, protein 60.3 (±27.5) g and fat 67.7 (±44.2) g. The macronutrient distribution was 55% carbohydrates, 14.5% protein and 30.5% fat of total energy. The majority of the sample had inadequate intakes of vitamin D (87.4%), folate (96.5%) and iron (91.3%). The median (IQR) amount of added table sugar and sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) was 4.0 (0.00–12.5) g and 17.9 (0.0–132.8) mL per day, respectively. Only 31.4% met the recommendation (400 g per day) for F&V. Beliefs that it was not easy to exclude sugary foods/drinks and that knowing how to control cravings for sugary foods/drinks are areas to target messages on the sugar content of SSBs. In conclusion, the dietary intake of these women was not optimal and fell short of several nutritional guidelines for pregnant women with hyperglycaemia. The strongly held beliefs regarding sugary foods/drinks may contribute to poor adherence to nutritional guidelines among pregnant women with GDM in South Africa.
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Keywords:
hyperglycaemia first detected in pregnancy; gestational diabetes; GDM; dietary intake; beliefs; SSBs; fruits and vegetables; sugar intake; pregnancy nutrition
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
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MDPI and ACS Style
Krige, S.M.; Booley, S.; Levitt, N.S.; Chivese, T.; Murphy, K.; Harbron, J. Dietary Intake and Beliefs of Pregnant Women with Gestational Diabetes in Cape Town, South Africa. Nutrients 2018, 10, 1183.
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