Cargando…

Food Taboos and Cultural Beliefs Influence Food Choice and Dietary Preferences among Pregnant Women in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

A well-nourished and healthy population is a central tenet of sustainable development. In South Africa, cultural beliefs and food taboos followed by some pregnant women influence their food consumption, which impacts the health of mothers and children during pregnancy and immediately afterwards. We...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Chakona, Gamuchirai, Shackleton, Charlie
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6893604/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31694181
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu11112668
_version_ 1783476237339983872
author Chakona, Gamuchirai
Shackleton, Charlie
author_facet Chakona, Gamuchirai
Shackleton, Charlie
author_sort Chakona, Gamuchirai
collection PubMed
description A well-nourished and healthy population is a central tenet of sustainable development. In South Africa, cultural beliefs and food taboos followed by some pregnant women influence their food consumption, which impacts the health of mothers and children during pregnancy and immediately afterwards. We documented food taboos and beliefs amongst pregnant isiXhosa women from five communities in the Kat River Valley, South Africa. A mixed-methods approach was used, which was comprised of questionnaire interviews with 224 women and nine focus group discussions with 94 participants. Overall, 37% of the women reported one or more food practices shaped by local cultural taboos or beliefs. The most commonly avoided foods were meat products, fish, potatoes, fruits, beans, eggs, butternut and pumpkin, which are rich in essential micronutrients, protein and carbohydrates. Most foods were avoided for reasons associated with pregnancy outcome, labour and to avoid an undesirable body form for the baby. Some pregnant women consumed herbal decoctions for strengthening pregnancy, facilitating labour and overall health of both themselves and the foetus. Most learnt of the taboos and practices from their own mother or grandmother, but there was also knowledge transmission in social groups. Some pregnant women in the study may be considered nutritionally vulnerable due to the likelihood of decreased intake of nutrient-rich foods resulting from cultural beliefs and food taboos against some nutritious foods. Encouraging such women to adopt a healthy diet with more protein-rich foods, vegetables and fruits would significantly improve maternal nutrition and children’s nutrition. Adhering to culturally appropriate nutrition education may be an important care practice for many pregnant women in the Kat River Valley.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6893604
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2019
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-68936042019-12-23 Food Taboos and Cultural Beliefs Influence Food Choice and Dietary Preferences among Pregnant Women in the Eastern Cape, South Africa Chakona, Gamuchirai Shackleton, Charlie Nutrients Article A well-nourished and healthy population is a central tenet of sustainable development. In South Africa, cultural beliefs and food taboos followed by some pregnant women influence their food consumption, which impacts the health of mothers and children during pregnancy and immediately afterwards. We documented food taboos and beliefs amongst pregnant isiXhosa women from five communities in the Kat River Valley, South Africa. A mixed-methods approach was used, which was comprised of questionnaire interviews with 224 women and nine focus group discussions with 94 participants. Overall, 37% of the women reported one or more food practices shaped by local cultural taboos or beliefs. The most commonly avoided foods were meat products, fish, potatoes, fruits, beans, eggs, butternut and pumpkin, which are rich in essential micronutrients, protein and carbohydrates. Most foods were avoided for reasons associated with pregnancy outcome, labour and to avoid an undesirable body form for the baby. Some pregnant women consumed herbal decoctions for strengthening pregnancy, facilitating labour and overall health of both themselves and the foetus. Most learnt of the taboos and practices from their own mother or grandmother, but there was also knowledge transmission in social groups. Some pregnant women in the study may be considered nutritionally vulnerable due to the likelihood of decreased intake of nutrient-rich foods resulting from cultural beliefs and food taboos against some nutritious foods. Encouraging such women to adopt a healthy diet with more protein-rich foods, vegetables and fruits would significantly improve maternal nutrition and children’s nutrition. Adhering to culturally appropriate nutrition education may be an important care practice for many pregnant women in the Kat River Valley. MDPI 2019-11-05 /pmc/articles/PMC6893604/ /pubmed/31694181 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu11112668 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Chakona, Gamuchirai
Shackleton, Charlie
Food Taboos and Cultural Beliefs Influence Food Choice and Dietary Preferences among Pregnant Women in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
title Food Taboos and Cultural Beliefs Influence Food Choice and Dietary Preferences among Pregnant Women in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
title_full Food Taboos and Cultural Beliefs Influence Food Choice and Dietary Preferences among Pregnant Women in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
title_fullStr Food Taboos and Cultural Beliefs Influence Food Choice and Dietary Preferences among Pregnant Women in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Food Taboos and Cultural Beliefs Influence Food Choice and Dietary Preferences among Pregnant Women in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
title_short Food Taboos and Cultural Beliefs Influence Food Choice and Dietary Preferences among Pregnant Women in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
title_sort food taboos and cultural beliefs influence food choice and dietary preferences among pregnant women in the eastern cape, south africa
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6893604/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31694181
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu11112668
work_keys_str_mv AT chakonagamuchirai foodtaboosandculturalbeliefsinfluencefoodchoiceanddietarypreferencesamongpregnantwomenintheeasterncapesouthafrica
AT shackletoncharlie foodtaboosandculturalbeliefsinfluencefoodchoiceanddietarypreferencesamongpregnantwomenintheeasterncapesouthafrica