Conhecimento nutricional e o consumo alimentar de gestantes de uma Unidade Básica de Saúde do município de Cuité - PB.

Abstract

The gestational period requires increased nutritional needs. In this process, adequate nutrition is essential for the health of the mother and the fetus. Pregnancy is conducive to nutritional insufficiency, derived from physiological changes in the cardiocirculatory, respiratory and gastrointestinal systems, as well as metabolic and hematological alterations, also derived from the energy demand of macro and micronutrients for fetal development. Thus, healthy eating during this phase of the cycle is important for fetal growth, to ensure maternal health and to reduce the risks of neonatal diseases, chronic non-communicable diseases, in the short and long term. The objective was to evaluate the nutritional knowledge and food consumption of pregnant women in a Basic Health Unit in the urban area of the Cuité-Paraíba municipality. The study was carried out in the Luiza Dantas de Medeiros Basic Unit, with all the pregnant women accompanied by the prenatal care. For data collection, a questionnaire on food consumption and nutritional knowledge during pregnancy was used. After applying the questionnaires, an analysis was carried out in which the collected data was organized in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and represented by means of tables for a better visualization and formatting of the results. The mean age of the pregnant women was 24.6 ± 7.21, the diseases presented during the gestational period were 10% anemia, 5% Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and 5% concomitant Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Gestational Arterial Hypertension, all the pregnant women manifested that "eating healthy during pregnancy is important", in terms of eating habits, 95% eat between meals, 80% eat 3 to 6 meals a day, in terms of the food group that fruits consume, they represent 75% while that artificial juices are the least consumed with 15%, then vegetables represented the % of consumption. It is concluded that schooling and lack of access to information can restrict the adoption and access to healthy foods and it is necessary to carry out food and nutrition education to sensitize pregnant women about the benefits of healthy eating habits during pregnancy.