Effects of Smoking on Nutrition and Food Consumption

Objective: This study was conducted to determine the effects of smoking on food consumption, nutritional habits and some anthropometric measurements. Material and Methods: A total of 1505 individuals who worked for the public sector and private sector were interviewed in order to reach the predetermined sample size and their smoking habits, educational levels, age and gender were recorded. Fagerstrom Test for Nicotin Dependence (FTND) was given to the ones who smoked currently. Two hundred and ten nicotine addicts based on the dependence score constituted the "Smoker group" and 210 age-, gender- and educational level-matched nonsmokers made up the "Non-smoker group". A daily dietary consumption of individuals was recorded and anthropometric measurements were made. Results: There was a significantly higher number of smokers who skipped breakfast and who had eating habit before going to bed compared to non-smokers (p<0.05). While non-smokers were more likely to consume fruits, smokers tended to consume biscuits, chocolate and cookies between meals (p<0.05). Fast eating was more common among smokers compared to non-smokers (p<0.001). While sugar, tea and coffee consumption of smoker women was higher compared to non-smokers, fruit consumption was found to be lower (p<0.05). A higher number of smoker women had inadequate amounts of vitamin C intake compared to non-smokers (p<0.05). Body muscle, bone weight and basal metabolism rate (BMR) of non-smoker men and body mass index (BMI) and body fat percentage of non-smoker women were higher than in smokers (p<0.05). Non-smoker men exercised more than smokers did (p<0.01). Conclusion: Some unhealthy nutritional habits were more common among smokers compared to non-smokers and recommendations were made about the negative effects of smoking on nutrition

The effect of breastfeeding training on exclusive breastfeeding: a randomized controlled trial

Introduction: Although exclusive breastfeeding is very beneficial for children's and mothers' health, a limited number of infants are exclusively breastfed for 6 months. Aim: This randomized controlled intervention study aims to determine the effect of breastfeeding training on mothers' knowledge, behaviors, and exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months. Materials and methods: The participants were selected randomly for training (n = 60) and control groups (n = 60) among the pregnant women admitted to the obstetrics and gynecology polyclinics of a baby-friendly hospital. The training group received breastfeeding training during the prenatal and postnatal periods. The data were collected using a questionnaire during admission and at the postpartum 1st and 24th weeks through face-to-face interviews. The study was completed with 34 and 30 mother-infant pairs in the training and control groups, respectively. Analyzed using the chi-square, Student t, Mann-Whitney U, and Wilcoxon t-tests. Results: The difference between the number of correct answers in pre- and posttest was higher in the training group (four questions) than in the control group (two questions) (p < .001). The number of mothers exclusively breastfeeding for 6 months was significantly higher in the training group (26.5%) than in the control group (3.3%) (p = .015). The median of the exclusive breastfeeding period was longer in the training group (5 months) than in the control group (4 months) (p = .013). Conclusion: Training and supporting pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers on breastfeeding increased their knowledge, the period of exclusive breastfeeding, and the rate of 6-month exclusive breastfeeding