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“HEALTH-FOR”: a pilot study to assess eating habits during pregnancy among Arab and Chinese immigrants living in Italy

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 74, pages 1243–1246 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

A 1-year pilot cross-sectional study was performed to assess eating behaviours and lifestyle among Chinese and Arab pregnant immigrants to Italy. A number of 95 Chinese and 83 Arab women were interviewed. Two ethnic-specific food frequency questionnaires were designed to reflect the habitual diet of women belonging to these ethnic groups. Food items frequency of consumption was discussed using healthy eating guidelines. In both populations, women met healthy eating guidelines, except for salt intake, which was double than recommended; meat, sweet products and sugar-sweetened beverages were consumed more frequently than recommended, while olive oil and yogurt were eaten less frequently. Chinese women did not reach the recommendations for dairy products and fatty fish and exceeded those for red and processed meat, whereas Arab women exceeded the recommendations for cheese. Our findings suggest that the Italian food environment did not significantly affect Chinese and Arab pregnant immigrants’ diet.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Italian Society of Perinatal Medicine for having launched, in line with 2015-EXPO goals, the HEALTH_FOR Project. In addition, we thank the participants for their participation, the cultural mediators and all the gynaecologic and obstetric staff for assistance with the subjects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Maddalena Massari, Cristiana Berti & Irene Cetin

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ospedaledei Bambini “Vittore Buzzi”, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Salvatore Andrea Mastrolia & Irene Cetin

  3. Department of Health Sciences, Division of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Nursing Sciences, Careggi University Hospital, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    Mauro Cozzolino, Martina Aldinucci & Mariarosaria Di Tommaso

  4. Obstetrics and Gynecology Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive Medicine, Odontostomatology, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

    Giovanni Nazzaro & Mariavittoria Locci

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  1. Maddalena Massari
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  2. Salvatore Andrea Mastrolia
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  3. Cristiana Berti
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  4. Mauro Cozzolino
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  6. Mariarosaria Di Tommaso
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  7. Giovanni Nazzaro
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  8. Mariavittoria Locci
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  9. Irene Cetin
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Correspondence to Irene Cetin.

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Massari, M., Mastrolia, S.A., Berti, C. et al. “HEALTH-FOR”: a pilot study to assess eating habits during pregnancy among Arab and Chinese immigrants living in Italy. Eur J Clin Nutr 74, 1243–1246 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-019-0547-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-019-0547-1

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