Maternal Nutrient Requirements In Pregnancy – Credible Sources Vs Danone Website

Shortcomings of Danone website on 1,000days content

Discuss About The Maternal Nutrient Requirements In Pregnancy.

The Danone website has low credibility for several reasons. First, the Danone website on 1,000days content lacks verifiability. The content contains several statements that are not directly cited for referencing. The statements lack in-text citation that can direct a reader interested to verifying the information or further reading to original research. Lack of in text citation denies acknowledgement of original researcher work (Zhao, Cappello, & Johnston, 2017). Secondly, the time of publication or last update is not indicated. The nutrition information keeps on evolving that make old information absolute (Rowe & Alexander, 2017). The content can therefore not be credible on basis of time. Thirdly, the references used at the end of the content are not the latest research. All the references are more than 5 years old with one more than 10 year old. This shows that the literature reviewed for the content is old and there is better up-to-date literature on the topic. Another reason for low credibility is that the content is not comprehensive. The content on the website does not provide links for further reading or detailed guide to other sources of pregnancy nutrition (Diviani, & Meppelink, 2017). The content on Danone nutricia on nutrition can be said thin, outdated and statements are not acknowledged directly to authors through in-text citations.

I would not recommend Danone website to a pregnant woman. The Danone website recommendations differ with the Ministry of Health New Zealand. The number of servings per day differs by more than one unit. For instance, Danone website recommends 6 servings for grains while the government websites recommends 8.5 servings that has 2.5 serving variance. This shows that using the website as a point of reference can have implication to the expectant mother as a result of increased uptake. Secondly, the information in Danone website is not linked to it sources. There are no direct links for further reading and in-text citations made to statements in the content that reduce facts traceability (Rekik, Kallel, Casillas, & Alimi, 2018). Thirdly, the Danone website doesn’t have date on information publication and last update. The information on the website cannot be determined when it was published or last updated. This means that it not possible to determine if the information is up –to-date. This is different from the Ministry of Health website where the information date of publication is indicted and last updates indicated too. The information on Ministry of Health of New Zealand is verifiable by the links provided on the content that can be traced to original research. Therefore, I will not recommend a pregnant woman to use Danone website as a source of information because the credibility of the information cannot be established.

Differences in Nutritional Recommendations between Danone website and Ministry of Health New Zealand

Marangoni, Cetin, Verduci, Canzone, Giovannini, Scollo, & Poli, (2016) stated that pregnant women require special and defined diet to meet their body and baby nutritional requirements. The research recommended that pregnant women should take 6 servings of starchy carbohydrates every day. The starchy carbohydrates group includes fiber rich foods and whole grains. This group of food should also contain one serving bowl cereal, one medium potato and one slice of bread. The second group of food recommendation is vegetables and fruits. The authors recommend at least 5 serving a day or more. The dairy foods that include cheese, yoghurt, and milk should be 3 serving a day. The protein group food should have at least 2 serving a day. The protein food includes poultry, fish, meat, and eggs. Fats and oils should be limited to 2 portions a day. Oils and fats are required in small quantities. The journal warns that food with high sugar and fats should be avoided (Marangoni et al., 2016).

The journal on nutrition for pregnancy both contradicts and supports the Danone website. The journal supports the website information on supplementary diet for pregnant women. Marangoni et al., (2016) states that pregnant women require 400 microgram of folic acid and 150 microgram of iodine per day that is similar to recommendations outlined on the Danone website. The journal also supports the Danone website nutritional information on plenty of water intake of 9 glasses each day. The other supportive information from the journal to Danone website is the amount of vegetables and fruits requirements. The journal supports 5 serving per day of fruits and vegetables. Lastly, the journal supports Danone website warning to high sugars and fats intake to women while pregnant.

On the other side, the journal contradicts the Danone website on the amount of food served per day. First, the journal contracts on the amount of grain serve. The journal recommends 6 servings while the Danone website recommends 8.5 serving. This shows a difference of 2 serving per day between journal recommendations and Danone website. Secondly, the journal recommends 2 serving on protein which is different from the Danone website recommendations of 3.5. The journal also contradicts the website recommendations on daily products serving. The journal recommends 3 serving per day while the website recommends 2 serving. Lastly, the journal contradicts the Danone website as it recommends fats and oil of 2 portions per day. This is different to Danone website that completely warns against pregnant women taking oils and fats (“Nutrition while Pregnant | Danone Nutricia Early Life Nutrition, Australia”, 2018). In addition, the journal recommends 800micrograms of folic acid as a supplement one month before pregnancy and twelve weeks during pregnancy. This is different to Danone website that recommends only 400microgram of folic acid during the same time.

Recommendations on Maternal Nutrient Requirements in Pregnancy from Credible Sources

Darnton-Hill, & Mkparu, (2015), in a research on micronutrient in pregnancy found that pregnant women require specific micronutrient for healthy children. The authors recommends healthy dietary pattern that includes vegetables, seafood, whole grains, fruits, and dairy products in order to meet important micronutrient requirements during pregnancy. The authors found that healthy dietary pattern for pregnant women has to include food that is rich in vitamins, fiber and minerals and are essential to fetal growth. The authors also found that women have to gain weight to support the life of the baby. Darnton-Hill, & Mkparu, (2015), concluded that pregnant women require 300-500 extra calories to maintain energy requirement by the body.

Darnton-Hill, & Mkparu, (2015), both supports and contradicts the Danone website information. First, the journal supports the outlined healthy diet. The journal states supports that vegetables, dairy products, fruits, grains, proteins are important part of a healthy dietary during pregnancy as outlined on the Danone website. The journal supports that pregnant women should have 3 serving of daily products as contained on the Danone website recommendations for expecting mothers. Thirdly, the journal supports the Danone website on warning consumption of food with high level of fats and sodium. The journal also warns on consumption of packaged or processed food as noted in the Danone website. Lastly, the journal supports the Danone argument on caffeine consumption. Caffeine consumption has negative effects to expectant mother and therefore should not be taken in excess.

On the other side, the Darnton-Hill, & Mkparu, (2015), journal has several statements that contradict with Danone website nutritional information for pregnant women. First, the journal contradicts the amount to be served to expecting mother in several accounts. The journal recommends 6 serving of whole grains while the Danone recommends 8.5 serving. The journal recommends that pregnant women be get 3 serving for daily food while on the other side Danone recommends for 2.5 serving per day. The journal also differs on the amount of protein to be served per day. The journal recommends 3 serving while Danone website recommends 2 serving per day. Secondly, the journal outlines the need to maintain low weight gain. This is contrary to Danone website that does not offer advisory on expected weight gain and how to control it during pregnancy.

References

Diviani, N., & Meppelink, C. S. (2017). The impact of recommendations and warnings on the quality evaluation of health websites: An online experiment. Computers in Human Behavior, 71, 122-129.

Darnton-Hill, I., & Mkparu, U. C. (2015). Micronutrients in pregnancy in low-and middle-income countries. Nutrients, 7(3), 1744-1768.

Marangoni, F., Cetin, I., Verduci, E., Canzone, G., Giovannini, M., Scollo, P., & Poli, A. (2016). Maternal diet and nutrient requirements in pregnancy and breastfeeding. An Italian consensus document. Nutrients, 8(10), 629.

Nutrition while Pregnant | Danone Nutricia Early Life Nutrition, Australia. (2018). Danonenutricia.co.nz. Retrieved 20 March 2018, from https://www.danonenutricia.co.nz/first-1,000-days/pregnancy/

Rekik, R., Kallel, I., Casillas, J., & Alimi, A. M. (2018). Assessing web sites quality: A systematic literature review by text and association rules mining. International Journal of Information Management, 38(1), 201-216.

Rowe, S. B., & Alexander, N. (2017). Food and nutrition science communications: behind the curtain. Nutrition Today, 52(3), 151-154.

Zhao, D., Cappello, A., & Johnston, L. (2017). Functions of uni-and multi-citations: implications for weighted citation analysis. Journal of Data and Information Science, 2(1), 51-69.