The What:
The nutrition-related issue that am addressing in Feeding Me to Feed You is common vitamin deficiencies in pregnant women. Specifically I would like to address the increased need for folic acid, iron, calcium, and vitamin D. Folic acid needs increase by 200mcg while pregnant and breastfeeding from 400mcg to 600mcg which is hard to achieve from food alone according to DHHSOWH (2020). Iron is important for growth and development and needs increase to 27mg per day (DHHSOWH, 2020) from the normal 18mg needed for adult women ages 19-50 (NIH, 2019), low iron status can potentially cause anemia and low birthweight. Calcium needs become 1000mg per day when pregnant and vitamin D needs increase to 600 IU which are both important for development of bones and teeth (DHHSOWH, 2020).
The Who:
My specific target audience is young adult women in their late 20’s and 30’s who either are currently pregnant or are desiring to become pregnant in the near future. These women generally are married, have a career, live in middle to upper-middle class neighborhoods in Northern California. When looking at the social ecological model, I desire to influence both the intrapersonal individual level as well as the interpersonal level. I am looking to motivate these women by giving them the knowledge, skill, and self-efficacy to make sure their diets from whole foods as well as supplementation when needed are adequate to ensure a healthy pregnancy and baby (Contento, 2016). I look to create a social network for these women so that they can support each other in the behavior change process which can lead to increased retention in the new behaviors (Contento, 2016).
The Why:
I would like to work with this audience as I have many acquaintances that are currently in this stage of life and it is a large population due to the fact that many millennials are approaching this age group and stage of life. I believe it is so important for women to not only have the knowledge but also the skills to ensure they are consuming an adequate amount of nutrients while pregnant since they are not only providing for themselves but also the fetus. It is well known that when there are nutrient deficiencies while pregnant the mother’s needs come first and the fetus is left with the majority of the deficiency which is what helps to cause many birth and early life issues.
References:
Contento, I.R. (2016). Nutrition Education. Linking Research, Theory, and Practice. (3rd Ed.) Burlington, MA. Jones and Bartlett Learning.
Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health (DHHSOWH). Pregnancy and Nutrition. Retrieved June 30, 2020 from: https://medlineplus.gov/pregnancyandnutrition.html.
National Institute of Health (NIH). December 10, 2019. Iron, Fact Sheet for Consumers. Retrieved from: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-Consumer/.