A study on nutritional awareness of mothers about food additives

الملخص EN

The present study aimed to evaluate mother’s awareness about food additives and healthy and unhealthy nutritional habits.

Sources of information about food additives were also evaluated.

Data was collected using a questionnaire that was distributed to 600 randomly selected mothers from Sharkia Governorate (urban and rural) and Matrouh Governorate (Bedouin).

The results showed that the highest percentage of mothers age was obtained in Bedouin area 62.35%, representing age between 18 and 32 years old, followed by 49% in rural area and 41.30% in urban area of mothers age between 33 and 47 years old.

The housewives represented the highest percentage and valued 88.24% of mothers in Bedouin area.

The results indicated that the highest percentage of academic mothers was cleared in urban area and amounted 52.17%.

Also, the highest percentage of familys income (4000 LE < per month) was 34.78% in urban area compared to rural and Bedouin area.

Furthermore, the results revealed that the highest values of mothers awareness about food additives, healthy and unhealthy nutritional habits were recorded in urban area, whereas, the lowest value was obtained in Bedouin.

The highest sources of information about food additives were friends and relatives (82.5%) of mothers in rural area.

From the results it could be recommended to increase education level of mothers in Bedouin area.