Table 2 Food taboos and their perceived reasons among pregnant women in Ethiopia, 2022
From: Food taboos and their perceived reasons among pregnant women in Ethiopia: a systematic review, 2022
S.N | Sociodemography | Foods considered as taboos for pregnant women | Perceived reasons | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Study area | Mean Age of study participants | Majority educational status | ||||
Town/region | Rural/Urban | |||||
1 | Addis Ababa | Urban | 25 | Grade 1–8 | Dark green leafy vegetables (spinach, lettuce, kale, and broccoli) | Fear of infection of the foetus and the mother, especially when eating vegetables |
Raw meet,organ meat and except liver | Large baby and difficult birthing, abortion, offensive vaginal discharge | |||||
Banana | Food sticking’ on the foetus’ head, especially when | |||||
2 | Raya Alamata, Tigray | Urban | 29 | Primary school completed | Brassica seed (Senafiche), pepper, sugar cane, milk, cheese, honey, meat, banana, tomato, onion, cactus fruit, chickpea (Shimbera), lentil (misir), roasted grains (kollo) | Fear of difficulty in delivery, fear of prolonged and pain Labour, abortion and miscarriage, large fetus, and feeling of indigestion |
Milk and milk products | Milk and milk products stick on the head and face of the fetus. This could spoil the face of the foetus and result in delivering a child with ugly face | |||||
3 | Awabe, Amhara | Rural | 25 | Unable to read and write | Fruit and vegetables including banana, pimento, cabbage and sugarcane | Banana could be attached to the head of the fetus, pimento burns the fetus, cabbage disturbs the fetus, and sugarcane increases seminal fluids |
Cereals like wheat and oilseeds like linseed, nigerseed, groundnut and salty diets | Increase the weight of the fetus, making it difficult to deliver. Linseed causes loss of strength in the fetus, and nigerseed makes the color of the fetus black | |||||
Drinks like coffee, tea, Coca-Cola, and porridge | Drinks like coffee, tea, coca, and porridge burn the foetus causing abnormality and coca cola drink causes abortion | |||||
4 | Mekelle, Tigray | Urban | 28.5 | Seconday education | Legumes, mustard, porridge, bananas, and whole grains in the form of ‘‘kollo”, honey, and milk products (yogurt and milk) | Legumes (beans and chickpeas) are believed to cause abdominal cramps in both mother and fetus, prolong labor, and cause abortion. Whole grains in the form of “kollo” were believed to exacerbate labor pain, and cause postpartum abdominal cramps, heartburn, and nausea in the mother |
Porridge, bananas, and milk products | Become coated to the body of the fetus and make the baby very big, causing difficult/prolonged labor | |||||
Honey | Causes abortion, and exacerbates labor pain | |||||
5 | SendafaBeke, Oromiya | Rural | 27 | Elementary education | Linseed | Causes abortion |
Eating leafy vegetables | Leafy vegetables could go to the womb and attach to the baby's head causing particles to appear on the fetal head at delivery | |||||
Egg, milk and milk products | Could make the foetus too big making it very dangerous to the life of the mother and the child during labor | |||||
6 | Rural Tigray | Rural | 30 | Unable to read and write | Kollo (roasted) of chickpea and wheat | Causes abdominal cramp in newborns |
Hot coffee | Causes balding in children | |||||
Green pepper and “senaficho” (dressing made from brassica) | Green pepper affects the eye of the foetus and “Senaficho” could cause miscarriage | |||||
Alcohol | Affects the health of the baby | |||||
Cereals like maize and millet | Maize causes nausea and millet could lead to constipation | |||||
Nigerseed oil | Causes skin darkness (black color) | |||||
“Shiro” (stew/sauce made of legumes), pea, bean | “Shiro” provides no calories and do not prevent from anemia. Peas and beans cause nausea during pregnancy | |||||
7 | Arsi,Oromiya | Rural | 31 | Elementary education | Leafy vegetables like cabbage | Form “particles” that are harmful to the child and are even likely to cause immediate death to the newborn |
Dairy products like milk, yogurt, and cheese as gestational age advances | Dairy products can pass to the womb and attach to the baby’s head | |||||
8 | Ethiopian migrant pregnant women | - | - | - | Linseed, honey, milk, and nuts | Fear of giving birth to a ‘fatty baby’, having a baby with discolored skin, abortion and stillbirth |
9 | Wondogenet, SNNPR | Urban | 25 | No formal education | Legumes | Because of like and dislike |
10 | Abeala, Afar | Rural | 28 | Unable to read and write to elementary | Bread-like local foods like “Burkutta”, “Ambassha”, “Bahamo” and “Mengelle” | Bleeding during labour and delivery could occur |
Roasted grains (“Kalo”) | Could be painted at the head of the baby | |||||
High-fat foods like, meat, camel milk, and yoghurt | Could prevent the foetus from being large | |||||
11 | Urban Tigray | Urban | 26.9 | Elementary education completed | Meat, fat, and butter | Could enable the foetus to grow larger beyond the birth canal resulting in severe complications during birth |
Honey | Could lead to a prolonged painful false labour and may cause constipation | |||||
Eggs, meat, and much cow’s milk | Could cause unnecessary growth of the foetus | |||||
12 | Shashemene, Oromiya | Urban | 27.5 | Unable to read and write | Linseed, honey and Milk/ yoghurt | Could be plastered on the fetal head, make fatty baby and difficult delivery, fear of abortion, evil eye, and/or fetal abnormality |
13 | Hadya, SNNPR | Urban | 25.2 | Elementary education | Milk and cheese, linseed, fatty meat and banana | Difficult delivery as the result of increased size of the fetus |