Evaluation of egg consumption and nutritional knowledge levels among pregnant women in Konya city centre

This study evaluated the sociodemographic characteristics, health information, frequency of food group consumption, egg consumption and nutritional knowledge levels among pregnant women. The study sample included 449 pregnant women living in Meram, Selçuklu and Karatay, the central districts of Konya province. The mean age of the participants was 28.88 ± 5.99 years. When educational status was evaluated, it was found that 31.6% of the participants had a primary education, 55.2% were employed and the average age at marriage was 23.55 ± 3.01 years. In terms of body mass index during pregnancy, 21.2% were classified as obese, and the most commonly reported condition was diabetes. Higher educational level of pregnant women was associated with higher egg consumption. Moreover, the average scores for egg consumption among individuals with normal body mass index were higher than those who were overweight and obese. Thus, we determined that egg consumption among pregnant women significantly varied according to their nutritional knowledge levels (p < 0.05) and that higher nutritional knowledge levels was associated with increased egg consumption. Majority of the pregnant women had a moderate level of nutritional knowledge; however, a significant portion of the participants had inadequate to moderate levels of knowledge regarding egg consumption and their egg consumption scores were also low. Based on the main findings of the study, we conclude that increasing the nutritional knowledge levels of pregnant women and ensuring that an adequate amount of eggs are included in their dietary plans during pregnancy is important for maternal health.