How did the use of the social marketing approach in Egyptian communities succeed in improving breastfeeding practices and infants' growth?

INTRODUCTION: Improving breastfeeding practices does not always link to interventions relying only on improving nutrition awareness and education but needs cultural and behavioral insights . AIM: This study aimed to evaluate the changes in core breastfeeding indicators as a result of the use of social marketing (SM) approach for improving breastfeeding practices of Egyptian women and the physical growth of infants aged 6 to 12 months. The core breastfeeding indicators were: Early initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of birth, Predominant and exclusive breastfeeding to 6 months (EBF), Bottle feeding with formula, continued breastfeeding to 1 and 2 years, and responsiveness to cues of hunger and satiety. METHODS: A quasi-experimental longitudinal study with a posttest-only control design was done over 3 years in three phases; the first was in-depth interviews and formative research followed by health education and counseling interventions and ended by measuring the outcome. Motivating mothers' voluntary behaviors toward breastfeeding promotion "feeding your baby like a baby" was done using SM principles: product, price, place, and promotion. The interventions targeted 646 pregnant women in their last trimester and delivered mothers and 1454 women in their childbearing period. The statistical analysis was done by using SPSS program, version 26. RESULTS: Most mothers showed significantly increased awareness about the benefits of breastfeeding and became interested in breastfeeding their children outside the house using the breastfeeding cover (Gawn) (p < 0.05). Breastfeeding initiation, exclusive breastfeeding under 6 months, frequency of breastfeeding per day, and percentage of children who continued breastfeeding till 2 years, were significantly increased (from 30%, 23%, 56%, and 32% to 62%, 47.3%, 69%, and 43.5% respectively). The girls who recorded underweight results over boys during the first year of life were significantly improved (p < 0.01) after the intervention (from 52.1% to 18.8% respectively). At the same time, girls found to be obese before the intervention (15.6%) became no longer obese. CONCLUSIONS: Improvement for the majority of the key breastfeeding indicators and physical growth of infants indicates that raising a healthy generation should start by promoting breastfeeding practices that are respectable to societal norms.

Assessment of macronutrients dietary intake, central adiposity among pre- and postmenopausal Egyptian women with benign and malignant breast tumors.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer (BC) is the second most frequent cancer in women and the second most common cancer worldwide. Lifestyle factors, like body weight, physical activity and diet, may be accompanying with higher BC risk. AIM: The assessment of macronutrients dietary intake; protein, fat, carbohydrates and their components of amino, fatty acids, and central obesity/adiposity among pre- and postmenopausal Egyptian women with benign and malignant breast tumors. METHODS: The current case control study included 222 women: 85 control, 54 benign and 83 breast cancer patients. Clinical, anthropocentric and biomedical examinations were performed. Dietary history and health attitude were done. RESULTS: The anthropometric parameters including waist circumference (WC) and the body mass index (BMI) of the benign and the women with malignant breast lesions showed the highest values when compared to the control (35.45 ± 15.58 km2 and 101.24 ± 15.01 cm, 31.39 ± 6.77 km2 and 98.85 ± 13.53 cm and 27.51 ± 7.10 km2 and 84.33 ± 13.78 cm). The biochemical parameters revealed high concentration of the total cholesterol (TC) (192.83 ± 41.54 mg/dl), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) (117.88 ± 35.18 mg/dl) and the median insulin level 13.8 (10.2-24.1) µu/ml in the malignant patients with high significant difference compared to the control. The malignant patients had the highest daily caloric intake (795.84 ± 519.95 K calories) proteins (65.39 ± 28.77 g), total fats (69.09 ± 32.15 g) and carbohydrates (196.70 ± 85.35 g), when compared to the control. Data also revealed the high daily consumption of the different types of the fatty acids with high linoleic/linoleinic ratio among the malignant group (14.284 ± 6.25). Branched chain amino acids (BGAAs), sulphur amino acids (SAAs), conditional amino acids (CAAs) and aromatic amino acids (AAAs) proved to be the highest in this group. Correlation coefficient between the risk factors revealed either positive or negative weak correlation except that between serum LDL-C concentration and the amino acids (isoleucine, valine cysteine, tryptophan and tyrosine) and negative association with the protective polyunsaturated fatty acids. CONCLUSION: Participants with breast cancer had the greatest levels of body fatness and unhealthy feeding habits relative to their high calorie, protein, carbohydrate, and fat intake.