Abstract

A new-born’s health and wellbeing is determined by the diet and lifestyle of the mother prior, during and after conception. Polyunsaturated fatty acids play an important role for proper development of brain and other organs in the body. This study sought to assess dietary intake of omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acids among pregnant and breastfeeding women in Morogoro municipality, Tanzania. About 318 women completed a repeated 24 h dietary recall questionnaire. For calculation of fatty acid intake, the foods consumed by each participant were entered independently in Nutri Survey software where the amount of nutrients consumed by each individual was calculated and then exported to SPSS for further analysis. The results showed high intake of non-alcoholic and carbonated beverages (213.4 g/day) and low intake of omega 6 and omega 3 rich foods (54.6 g/day). More than half could not attain the recommended minimum dietary diversity score. The average intake of important omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acids ranged from 0.06 to 1.19 g/day and 0.17 to 0.25 g/day, respectively. When compared with the recommended intake of energy as well as important omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acids for both pregnant and breastfeeding women, there were gaps in all of these aspects. Intake of omega 6 and omega 3 rich foods among pregnant and breastfeeding women was lower than recommended. Nutrition education on consumption of appropriate polyunsaturated fatty acid rich foods prior, during and after pregnancy should be given to all women of reproductive age.

Key words: Omega 3 fatty acid, omega 6 fatty acids, diet, essential fatty acids, pregnant women, breastfeeding women.