Evaluation of the Olo Prenatal Nutrition Follow-up Care for Vulnerable Pregnant Women

Abstract

Olo nutritional follow-up care offers vulnerable pregnant women food vouchers, multivitamin supplements, tools, and nutritional counselling to support healthy pregnancy outcomes. Purpose: To evaluate the contribution of Olo follow-up care to nutritional intakes and eating practices, as well as to assess the programme-related experience of participants. Methods: Participants (n = 30) responded to questionnaires and web-based 24-hour dietary recalls and participated in a semi-structured interview (n = 10). Results: Olo follow-up care reduced the proportion of participants below the recommended intake for groups for many micronutrients, with the greatest reduction for folate (by 96.7%), vitamin D (by 93.3%), iron (by 70.0%), calcium (by 50.0%), and zinc (by 30.0%), mainly due to the prenatal multivitamin supplements. Most participants (96.7%) did not follow Olo’s typical recommendations but, if they had, hypothetically they would have consumed an average of 746 additional calories per day and be above the recommendations for excessive intakes of folic acid and iron (100% and 33.3%, respectively). More than half of the participants were moderately to severely food insecure. Olo contributed to reducing the impact of isolation and increased food accessibility and budget flexibility among participants. Conclusion: Olo follow-up care helped reduce the proportion of women below the recommended intake for micronutrients, but revising the food offered and strategies to address food insecurity may be necessary.