Nutritional Status, Dietary Quality and Associated Factors among Lactating Mothers from Selected Districts of Jimma Zone, Southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Breastfeeding is a natural process, which is well established to provide many health benefits for both mothers and their infants. However the nutrient intake of lactating mothers is one of the most important determinants of mother’s health, well-being and the ability for long-term successful breastfeeding. Therefore it is important to determine the dietary quality, nutritional status and nutritional composition of foods consumed by lactating mothers in order to contribute comprehensive baseline information to the country-specified policy makers that can be used in improving maternal nutrition, social and economic wellbeing of the society. This study was aimed to assess nutritional status, dietary quality and associated factors among 558 lactating mothers from purposively selected three districts: Mana, Omo-nada and Dedo of Jimma zone, southwestern Ethiopia. Community based cross-sectional survey design and multistage stratified clustered sampling techniques were used in this study. A scale of seven food groups was used for assessing dietary diversity and food variety within 24- hr recall and The proximate, mineral and anti-nutritional composition of commonly consumed foods were analyzed at EPHNRI. Statistical analyses were carried out using SPSS (version 20).The prevalence of “low DDS” was high (P<0.05) in rural mothers, informally educated mothers, mothers who reside in lower HH wealth status, and being in Omo Nada District (cereal crop producing).On the bivariate analysis; husband’ occupation, low household wealth status and younger age of the study participants were positively associated with chronic energy deficiency (p<0.05). Other predictable variables like DDS, family size and lactating mother’s education have no association, (p>0.05) with chronic energy deficiency. On multivariable linear regression BMI was positively associated with having additional two meals a day (β=0.529, P=0.080), house hold wealth (β=0.721, P=0.004), age (β=0.72, P=0.000) and husband’s occupation (β=0.206, P=0.001) whereas marital status was negatively associated (β=0.412, P=0.483) with BMI. All the commonly consumed foods by lactating mothers were not sufficient to meet the energy requirements, (NAR<1). The overall nutrient adequacy MAR was below the cut-off point for all food types. The feeding practices, dietary intakes in relation to diversified diet and nutritional adequacy of common foods were below the national and international recommendation. Unless the risk factors identified and minimized, the l