ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE ON ADEQUATE DIETARY INTAKE AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN ATTENDING ANTENATAL CLINIC IN JAGUN-JAGUN HEALTH CENTRE, EDE, OSUN STATE.

Introduction: Maternal nutrition is a fundamental determinant of fetal growth, birth weight, and infant morbidity. Consequently, insufficient, imbalanced nutrition and improper dietary practices during pregnancy cause serious conditions that affect both mother and her fetus such as premature birth, still birth etc., while for the mother, it leads to severe malnutrition and anemia. Aim: the aimed to assess the knowledge on adequate dietary intake among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in Jagun-Jagun health Centre, Ede, Osun state. Methodology: This study adopted descriptive cross-sectional design and the target population were all the pregnant women attending antenatal clinic Jagun-Jagun health Centre, Ede, Osun state. A purposive sampling technique was used and sample size of 148 respondents were selected using Taro Yamane formula. Self-structured validated questionnaire was used to collect data on antenatal days. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics of frequencies, means, standard deviation and percentages. Relationships between variables were tested using chi-square at 0.05 significance level. Findings: results from this study revealed that 61% of the respondents had high knowledge level on adequate dietary intake during pregnancy while their practices of adequate diet were poor. However, factors that affect adequate dietary intake were identified to be Poverty (25.6%), Illiteracy (12.6%), cultural belief (17.6%) and ignorance (14.1%). Pregnant women’s knowledge of adequate diet during pregnancy was good while the practices of adequate diet were poor. Recommendation: comprehensive educational programs should be implemented during antenatal clinics to improve pregnant women’s knowledge on adequate dietary intake, Nurses should also effectively communicate dietary recommendations and address misconceptions or concerns that pregnant women may have.