Dietary Quality and Its Impact on Maternal Nutritional Status in Ondo State, Nigeria

Background: Malnutrition is one of the major problems that have bewildered human health in developing countries Objective: The study aimed to assess maternal diet quality and nutritional status of in Ondo state. Methods: This was a community based descriptive and cross-sectional study that consisted of 420 respondents (mothers). Respondents were drawn using multistage sampling procedure. Pre-test, semi-structured Interviewer administered questionnaire was used to elicit information from the respondents while anthropometric indices such as height, weight, waist circumference, hip circumference were measurement and Waist hip ratio, mid upper arm circumference were computed according to standard. Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated from weight and height measurements and classified into underweight (<18.5), normal weight (18.5-24.9), overweight (25.0-29.9) and obesity (≥30.0). Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics while level of significant was set P (<0.05). Results: The nutritional status of the women shows that there was a double burden of malnutrition indicating 10.7% under nutrition, 29.0% overweight and 4.8% obese. BMI was significantly associated with mothers’ age (p= 0.000), place of residence (p= 0.009), marital status (p= 0.017), mothers’ occupation (p= 0.026), occupation of spouse (p= 0.009), and monthly income (p = 0.008). Conclusion: There were existence of a double burden of malnutrition and high prevalence of overweight and obesity in the study area. Household food insecurity contributed greatly to the malnutrition observed in many mothers in the study. Nutrition and health promotion education intervention is recommended in the study area.