Abstract

KRUGER, Ana Luz  and  MENDEZ, Ignacio. Diet diversity and anemia in postpartum women attending a state hospital in La Plata, Buenos Aires. Diaeta [online]. 2021, vol.39, n.175, pp.34-43.  Epub Jan 15, 2022. ISSN 1852-7337.

Introduction: there is no information at local level on the relationship between diet diversity and postpartum anemia of women, so we intended to analyze this relationship in a state hospital in La Plata.

Materials and method: a cross-sectional analytical study was carried out in women assisted during the first year postpartum, in the Health Observatory of Sor María Ludovica Hospital in La Plata city, between August 2018 and September 2019. Personal and laboratory data were obtained from medical records. Foods surveyed by 24-hour reminders were categorized into 10 groups. Dietary diversity was considered to be the consumption ≥5 groups, according to the “Minimum dietary diversity for women” instrument. Anemia was defined as hemoglobin <12 g / dL. The association between anemia and diet diversity was analyzed using Fisher’s exact test and mean hemoglobin was compared using Student’s test.

Results: 137 postpartum women were included, age 26 (22; 31), 53.7% Argentinian. 12.4% presented anemia. 63.5% had diet diversity. “Grains and cereals” was the most consumed group (100%), followed by “Meat, chicken and fish” (92.7%) and “Other vegetables” (85.4%). The least consumed were “Legumes” (6.6%) and “Nuts and seeds” (0.7%). No statistically significant association was found between diet diversity and anemia (p = 0.18). No difference was found in the hemoglobin means in women with and without diet diversity (p = 0.99).

Conclusions: diet diversity was not associated with anemia in postpartum women attending a state hospital, this could be related to the high frequency of consumption of meats and fortified cereals.

Keywords : anemia; postpartum period; iron in diet; fortified foods..

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