Food aversion during pregnancy and its association with nutritional status of pregnant women in Boricha Woreda, Sidama Regional State, Southern Ethiopia, 2019. A community based mixed crossectional study design

Plain language summary Pregnancy is a complex and absolutely important period in women’s life. Thus, in order to sustain a successful pregnancy, a mother experiences a number of physiological and behavioral changes. Notably, food aversions are the number one changes experienced by pregnant women. Food aversions are characterized by the repulsion and avoidance of particular foods and the most common aversions are nonalcoholic caffeinated beverages, meat, fish, poultry and eggs. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the magnitude and its association with nutritional status of Pregnant Women in order to provide concrete scientific evidence for the concerned stakeholders. A community based mixed cross-sectional study was conducted among 505 pregnant mothers selected from five randomly selected kebeles of Boricha Woreda. Pregnant women in the age range of 19 to 49 years and who were apparently healthy were interviewed. Four hundred ninety seven participants were interviewed voluntarily with a response rate of 98.4%. The mean (± SD) age of the women was 22.3 (± 5.5) years. Pregnant women who were averted at least one food were 344(69.2%); where cereal (45.9%) and enset (44.2%) were averted by the majority of the participants. Hence pregnant women who practice food aversion had higher likely to be a malnourished. Pregnant women who were less than thirty three years of age, who had nausea, and ate additional meal were more urged to avert a particular foods. Whereas, women with better nutritional status had less food aversion practice. In conclusion; despite a pregnant woman requires a healthy diet embedded with adequate intake of energy, protein, vitamins and minerals to meet maternal and fetal needs, the magnitude of food aversion and maternal under nutrition in the study area was high