Dietary pattern and risk of dyslipidemia among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in Kaduna South LGA, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Background: Maternal nutrition plays a major role in the outcome of pregnancy. Nutrition and metabolism in pregnancy determine the intrauterine environment, which influences the development of the fetus and a child's health from birth to death. Although dyslipidemia during pregnancy has long-term effects on mother and child, routine antenatal clinic examinations rarely include lipid profile checks. In the present study, we did a cross-sectional investigation on the risk of dyslipidemia and the possible contribution of diet in 130 pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in selected heath facilities in Kaduna South LGA, Kaduna State Nigeria. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected to assess the risk of dyslipidemia among the pregnant women. Results: The pregnant women in this study were between the ages of 16 - 40, 77 % of which had a secondary school education, while 67 % lived on a monthly income of N5,000 - N10,000 (12.05 USD - 24.10 USD). Their diet consisted mainly of fats, oils, and milk and milk products. Indices of dyslipidemia showed that the mean total cholesterol concentration of all the pregnant women (5.73 ± 1.13 mmol/L) was above the optimal range (< 5.20 mmol/L), while more than 10 % of them were above the optimal range for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, 40.8 % and 35.4 % were at the borderline (1.93 ± 0.14 mmol/L) and high triglycerides (2.74 ± 0.45 mmol/L) concentrations respectively. Only milk and milk products showed a positive relationship with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (r = 0.999, p = 0.001). Conclusions: The lipid profiles of pregnant women in our study showed that they were at risk of dyslipidemia. Therefore, routine screening of lipid profiles during antenatal care is important to provide dietitians and caregivers with valuable information on how to provide optimal nutritional care to pregnant women.