Dietary changes during pregnancy and the postpartum (confinement) period in Asian women

What is it about?

In this article we explored dietary changes among Asian (Chinese, Malay, and Indian) women during pregnancy and the initial postpartum period. During pregnancy, participants tended to increase their consumption of milk, fruit and vegetables and decrease their consumption of tea, coffee, soft drinks and seafood. Most participants reported adherence to traditional restrictions ('confinement') during the early postpartum period (Chinese: 94·8 %, Malay: 91·6 %, Indian: 79·6 %). During the postpartum period, participants tended to increase their consumption of fish and milk-based drinks and decrease their consumption of noodles, seafood, and chocolates and sweets. Ethnic differences in food consumption were pronounced during the postpartum period. For example, most Chinese participants (87·2 %) increased their ginger consumption during the postpartum period as compared with smaller percentages of Malays (31·8 %) and Indians (40·8 %). Similar ethnic differences were observed for cooking wine/alcohol, herbs and spices, and herbal tea consumption.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Unlike Western populations, dietary choices during pregnancy and the postpartum period for Asian women are heavily influenced by traditional beliefs, and may differ among different ethnic groups. Thus, dietary interventions during these periods should take into consideration these beliefs to enhance compliance.

Perspectives