Impact of nutrition counselling on food adequacy of expectant hypertensive and diabetic patient

Nutrition intervention is considered the cornerstone of treatment for all women with pregnancy complications. Educating pregnant women on proper consumption of nutrients and a healthier lifestyle will help promote a healthy pregnancy. The objectives of this study is to assess the impact of nutrition counselling on food adequacy of pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) patients and a 24 hour recall questionnaire was used to assess the food intake among patients. Twenty two PIH and GDM patients were selected and equally divided into two groups, i.e., experimental group and control group. Nutrition counseling was imparted for three months (experimental group) at 30 days interval. The mean daily intake in the experimental group for pulses had no significant change, while cereals, milk and milk products, meat, fish and poultry, fruits, green leafy vegetables and other vegetables was increased significantly and that of roots and tubers, fats and oils and sugar and jaggery decreased significantly. However, the control group had no significant change for pulses, cereals, milk and milk products, meat, fish and poultry, fruits, green leafy vegetables, other vegetables, roots and tubers and sugar and jaggery while a significant decrease was observed in the mean daily intake of fats and oils.