The Olo Perinatal Intervention: A Nutritional Evaluation of Vulnerable Pregnant Women

Abstract

Context: The Olo (egg-milk-orange) intervention offers vulnerable pregnant women food vouchers and supplements, tools, and nutritional counselling to support healthy pregnancy outcomes. Goal: To evaluate Olo’s contribution to the nutritional intakes and eating practices, as well as participants’ appreciation of the intervention. Methods: Participants (n=30) responded to questionnaires, dietary recalls and participated in a semi-structured interview (n=10). Results: Olo reduced the proportion of participants at risk of inadequate intakes for many micronutrients, mainly due to the prenatal multivitamins rather than the food offered. Most participants (96.7%) did not follow Olo’s typical recommendations but if so, they would have hypothetically consumed an average of 746 additional calories and be at risk of excessive intakes for folic acid (80.0%) and iron (33.3%). Olo also contributed to reduce the impact of isolation and solitude. Conclusion: The Olo intervention may need to be adapted to better respond to the participants’ social and dietary needs.