The project titled “The Effect of Nutritional Knowledge Levels of Pregnancy and Lactation Women on Body Image and Emotional Eating” to be carried out by Asst.Prof.Dr. Hatice Kübra BARCIN GÜZELDERE from IMU Nutrition and Dietetics Department and our students of the department, Şevval GENÇTÜRK and Zeynep TÜRKER, will be supported within the scope of Tübitak 2209-A University Students Research Projects Support Program.
The aim of the study to be carried out starting from September 2022 until September 2023, is to investigate the nutritional knowledge level, emotional eating behavior and body image during pregnancy and lactation. As is known, nutrition is essential for growth and survival, minimizing health risks and maintaining general health. Especially during pregnancy and lactation period, it is of great importance for the mother to have a healthy and adequate nutrition and to create a healthy lifestyle in terms of the growth and development of the baby. Undernutrition and/or malnutrition before and during pregnancy can lead to birth complications as well as many dramatic consequences such as pregnancy poisoning and maternal mortality. In infants, it can cause serious consequences ranging from developmental delay to increased neonatal mortality. For this reason, it is a public health problem that should be emphasized to provide correct nutrition information from reliable sources to women during pregnancy and lactation.
In addition, emotional eating may be triggered in the individual due to hormonal changes during pregnancy and lactation. Extra weight gain can lead to obesity and concerns about body image in individuals in the future. Considering all these negative results, the researchers planned to include 100 pregnant women who applied to the Prof.Dr.Süleyman Yalçın Hospital Gynecology and Obstetrics Polyclinic and 100 women who were in the lactation period. As a result of the study, it is aimed to draw attention to the importance of nutrition information during pregnancy and lactation, which are the beginning of life for people and the most important periods in women’s lives, and to guide the participants in the light of correct information.