Table 4

Overview of the Measurements before and after the Intervention


Assessing methods

Nutrition and health knowledge


Puerperium diet and lifestyle

Diet patterns

24-hour dietary recording and FFQ

Health-related behaviors


Physical activities


Assessment of nutritional status

Macronutrients intake (protein, lipid and carbohydrate, and dietary fiber from cereals, sugar, vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs, milk, soybeans, etc.)

24-hour dietary recording and FFQ, which include both food categories and amount

Micronutrients intake


HPLC for vitamin A and vitamin D, load test for B vitamins and vitamin C


AAS for serum calcium, iron and zinc

Nutrient Metabolism

Blood glucose and lipid profiles, including total cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C, triglycerides

Automatic biochemical analyzer

Postpartum recovery and health status

Anthropometric measurements, including height, body weight, and BMI

BMI = body weight (kg)/height (m2)

Body recovery, including duration for lochia, amount and duration of postpartum hemorrhage, degree of uterine involution

Diagnosis by specialized obstetricians

Diseases prevalence, including puerperal infection, fever, constipation, hemorrhoids, anal fissure, breast disease, oral ulcers, gum bleeding, anemia, pains (headache, heel pain, back pain, leg pain, joint pain, leg cramps, etc.)

Diagnosis by specialized doctors

Postpartum depression

Assessed by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale

Milk secretion and neo development

Assessed by specialized doctors

FFQ indicates food frequency questionnaires; HPLC, high performance liquid chromatography; AAS, atomic absorption spectrophotometry; HDL-C, high density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-C, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; BMI, body mass index

Bao et al. BMC Public Health 2010 10:103   doi:10.1186/1471-2458-10-103

Open Data