Journal of Community Medicine & Health Education
Open Access

Abstract

Nutrition has an important role in restoring womenâ�� health during postnatal period. Much of the womanâ��s behavior during this period, including nutritional practice is strongly influenced by her cultural background. This study was conducted to determine the traditional nutritional practices (TNP) among the postnatal women in Gonbad Kavous city, northern Iran. In a descriptive study, the data was collected from 305 women between Aug to Oct 2014. Women attending primary health centers in rural and urban areas were recruited using randomized sampling method. A questionnaire on socio-demographic and TNP during postnatal period was administrated to the sample. Yes and no answers were summed up to calculate the total score ranging from 0 to 8. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis and Chi-square test. The total number of traditional practices ranged from 2 to 8 with the mean being 6.46�±1.42. Majority of the women are hot drinkers (95.1%), have avoided eating spicy food (87.2%), have eaten plenty of sweaty fatty food (85.6%), have avoided eating some of smelly food such as onion and garlic (84.3%), have eaten yellow oil (Sari Yagh) (83.6%), have eaten red sugar (Ghezel Shekar) (76.1%), have eaten Bulmagh (Oil+Suger+Rice powder) (73.1%) and have avoided eating red meat (61.3%). There was no significant difference between TNP and socio-demographic characteristics. TNP was quite high among postnatal women in this study. As information on safety of these practices is limited, health care practitioners should be aware of such practices and asked mothers about it.

Biography

Fatemeh Abdollahi has completed her PhD from University Putra Malaysia School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She is the faculty member and Researcher in Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. She has published more than 20 papers in indexed journals on maternal and child health.

Email: abdollahizagh@gmail.com