Traditions and perceptions regarding traditional foods and their consumption during postpartum period by women visiting Tertiary Care Hospital, Lahore

Traditions and perceptions regarding traditional foods and their consumption during postpartum period

Abstract

Traditional foods are often used as family customs linked with particular festivals and seasons passing down from generations to generations. Traditional foods are prepared using definite procedures following the cookery legacy, less refined and identified on the basis of their unique taste linked to particular nation, place or state.

OBJECTIVE: To nd traditions and perceptions regarding traditional foods and their consumption during postpartum period by women visiting Tertiary Care Hospital, Lahore.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out at Gynae Department of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore. Study was completed in 4 months, using nonprobability convenient sampling technique. The data of 100 patients collected through pre-tested questionnaire were analyzed statistically using SPSS version 21.0. Frequencies were calculated and Pearson's chi-square test was applied to find associations between various parameters.

RESULTS: Among mothers, 97% had knowledge regarding traditional foods, 3% didn't know about traditional foods, 32% were consuming traditional foods once a day, 27% were consuming traditional foods twice a day, 9% were consuming traditional foods more than two times a day, where as 32% were not consuming traditional foods. Among the traditional foods, 25% of mothers were consuming Gond panjiri (Sweets), 25% were consuming Halwa (Sweets), 18% were consuming Alsi, while 32% were not consuming any traditional foods.

CONCLUSIONS: There was a fairly increased knowledge about traditional foods among postpartum women; and different perceptions regarding the consumption of traditional foods were seen. Family traditions came out as the fundamental cause of large consumption of traditional foods following the belief that traditional foods maintain weight and are consider appropriate for optimal health status during postpartum period.