Are women in early pregnancy following the national pyramid recommendations?

Appropriate nutrition in pregnancy is fundamental for maternal and fetal health, and the long-term physiological wellbeing of the offspring. We aimed to determine whether a sample of pregnant women met the national guidelines for healthy eating during pregnancy, and to examine if compliance differs when analysed by Body Mass Index (BMI) category. Subjects completed a 24-hr dietary recall, and had their BMI calculated. The mean age was 27.8 years. The mean BMI was 25.1 kg/m2, with 32 (31.7%) subjects overweight and 14 (13.9%) obese based on BMI category. Although the majority of subjects thought that they had a healthy diet, less than half met the recommended guidelines for each individual food group with achievement of the dairy group being particularly low. Achievement of food group recommendations was not influenced by BMI category. Public health messages on healthy eating guidelines need to be clearly communicated to pregnant women.