Study of the breakfast habits and its relationship with some factors in Semnan (Iran) pupils

Introduction: Proper nutrition is one of the essential factors to well being for children andadolescents. Meanwhile, breakfast has a major role to supply their requirement nutrients and energy.There are some experimental evidences that suggest that omitting breakfast negatively affectscognitive functioning. This survey was performed to study of breakfast habits and its relationshipswith some factors in Semnan (Iran) pupils during 2006.Materials and Methods: In this descriptive analytical study, 1193 pupils in different educationalgrades were selected by the multistage cluster sampling. Data were collected by using a questionnaireand analyzed with Kruskal Wallis, Mann - Whitney and Spearman Coefficient Correlation tests usingSPSS software.Results: The mean and standard deviation of age was 12.4±3.3 years old. 50.7% of them were boysand 49.3% were girls. 53.4% of the pupils stated that they always eat breakfast and the rest of them, donot eat irregularly. 4.4% of the pupils said they never eat breakfast. In this study, there was significantrelationship between breakfast habits and age (P<.01), educational grade (P<.0001), sex (P<.0001),the time of getting up in the morning (P<.0001), sleeping time at night (P<.0001), the education ofpupil’s mother (P<.04) , the education of pupil’s father (P<.05), the birth rank (P<.05) and theintervention of pupils in the breakfast planning (P<.0001). According to pupils’ breakfast for threecontinuous days, the relative consumption of bread (2.26), tea (2.20) and cheese (1.66) was higherthan other foods, such as milk, walnut, honey, egg, fruit and fruit juice.Conclusion: These finding showed that pupils need to learn more about both irregular intake ofbreakfast and various intake of nutritious foods and this issue must be considered by differentauthorities

Beliefs of Pregnant Women in Qom City about Exclusive Breastfeeding until 6 Months of Age, Iran

Background and Objectives: Exclusive breastfeeding is the most effective way of feeding infants until 6 months of age. The present study aimed to determine the beliefs of pregnant women in Qom city about exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months of age based on constructs of theory of planned behavior. : In this descriptive cross-sectional study, after designing a questionnaire to measure the constructs of theory of planned behavior, including behavioral, normative, and control beliefs, and also determining its validity and reliability, 240 pregnant women in Qom were selected using cluster sampling and completed the questionnaires. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: More emotional relationship with infants was the most important positive behavioral belief, and belief in breast malformation and fatigue was negative behavioral beliefs about exclusive breastfeeding among the pregnant women. The opinion of physicians and health care providers about exclusive breastfeeding was reported as the most important normative belief, and urging of relatives, especially mother or mother-in-law to use sweet water or powdered milk was the most important control beliefs among the mothers, which made exclusive breastfeeding difficult. Conclusion: Promoting positive beliefs and correcting wrong beliefs about exclusive breastfeeding, along with consideration of the role of health care providers and husband would help pregnant mothers to accept the choice of exclusive breastfeeding until the end of 6 months of age