Method for Screening Evaluation of Dietary Intake ofPregnant Women

Overview

Objective:
Description and practical demonstration of the new method of dietary evaluation ofpregnant women.Design: Pilot study - testing of new method.Setting: Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine MU, Brno.Methods: The authors describe a screening method of quick and easy dietary evaluation of preg-nant women. This method used for the assessment of the healthy population employs standardsformulated in terms of serving equivalents and food groups. The data are obtained by the 24-hrrecall and the food is converted into 6 basic food groups. The consumption is compared with therecommended number of the servings of each food group. The result of the evaluation is practicaland an early comprehensible recommendation for pregnant women. This method also allows thecalculation of total energy and nutrients, using so-called nutrition profiles of each food group.The method involves the possibility of sell-assessment and self-evaluation using the questionnairedesigned by WHO and modified by the authors according to the needs of Czech population. Thearticle contains the results of a pilot study describing the dietary evaluation of 50 pregnantwomen from Brno.Results: The pilot study proved the advantages of the described method for practical use.Conclusion: The authors consider the described new method of quick screening evaluation ofdietary intake an applicable and desirable part of the health status assessment during pregnancy.

Key words:
nutrition of pregnant women, screening method of dietary evaluation, 24-hr recall