Department of Nutritional Science and Dietetics

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Browsing Department of Nutritional Science and Dietetics by Subject "Children"

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    The association between dietary diversity and development among children under 24 months in rural Uganda: analysis of a cluster-randomised maternal education trial
    (Public health nutrition, 2021-03) Paul, Kakwangire; Cami, Moss; Nicholas, Matovu; Prudence, Atukunda; Ane, C Westerberg; Per, O Iversen; Grace, Muhoozi
    Objective: To assess the association between dietary diversity and development among children under 24 months in rural Uganda and to establish other factors that could be associated with development among these children. Design: A secondary data analysis of a cluster-randomised controlled maternal education trial (n 511) was conducted on a sub-sample of 385 children. We used adjusted ORs (AORs) to assess the associations of dietary diversity scores (DDS) and other baseline factors assessed at 6–8 months with child development domains (communication, fine motor, gross motor, personal–social and problem solving) at 20–24 months of age. Setting: Rural areas in Kabale and Kisoro districts of south-western Uganda. Participants: Children under 24 months. Results: After multivariable analysis, DDS at 6–8 months were positively associated with normal fine motor skills development at 20–24 months (AOR = 1·18; 95 % CI 1·01, 1·37; P = 0·02). No significant association was found between DDS and other development domains. Children who were not ill at 6–8 months had higher odds of developing normal communication (AOR = 1·73; 95 % CI 1·08, 2·77) and gross motor (AOR = 1·91; 95 % CI 1·09, 3·36) skills than sick children. Girls had lower odds of developing normal gross motor skills compared with boys (AOR = 0·58; 95 % CI 0·33, 0·98). Maternal/caregiver nutritional education intervention was positively associated with development of gross motor, fine motor and problem-solving skills (P-values < 0·05). Conclusions: We found an association between child DDS at 6–8 months and improvement in fine motor skills development at 20–24 months. Child illness status, maternal/caregiver nutritional education intervention and sex were other significant baseline predictors of child development at 20–24 months.
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    Feeding practices, nutrient adequacy and nutritional status of children 12-23 months in Kwania and Apac districts, northern Uganda
    (Kyambogo University (Unpublished work), 2024-08) Ruma, Hendry Daniel
    Sub-optimal feeding practices is responsible for one third of all cases of child malnutrition. The effects are more severe in children between the ages of 12-23 months since this is a crucial period for development with irreversible effects of poor nutrition. The high prevalence of malnutrition among children in rural areas in Uganda, along with a dearth of insight on feeding practices and the nutrient adequacy of local foods, is proving to be a major concern. To determine the association between feeding practices, nutrient adequacy and nutritional status of children 12-23 months in Apac and Kwania district. This was part of an ongoing study which adopted quantitative cross‐sectional and descriptive study design. Based on the 11.5% of children in Lango meeting a minimum dietary diversity, a sample size of 156 children was used. Multi stage simple random sampling was used to select households with the index child 12-23 months. Structured interviews, weighed food record and anthropometric assessment were used for data collection. Nutri-Survey (Version 2007), IMAPP (Version 1.0) and WHO Anthro softwares (Version 3.1) were used to analyze nutrient adequacy and categorize nutritional status respectively. Chi-square test and multinomial regression test were used to establish associates and predictors of nutritional status outcomes respectively. This was performed at a 95% confidence interval (p <0.05). About 18.6% of the children met the minimum dietary diversity (MDD), 28.2% met the minimum meal frequency (MMF) and 9.6% of the children met the minimum acceptable diet (MAD). The children’s diet was inadequate in dietary fibre, vitamin B1, B2, vitamin E, calcium, iron, and zinc. 19.3% of the children were stunted, 12.2% of the children were underweight and 2.5% of the children were wasted. Wasting was significantly associated with bottle feeding (p=0.019, χ2=5.47) practice and late initiation of breastfeeding (p=0.05, χ2=3.606). Stunting was significantly associated with dietary diversity and meeting a minimum acceptable diet (p=0.037, χ2=5.552) and (p=0.042, χ2=3.591), respectively. Children with adequate calcium intake were 0.301 times less likely to be stunted (AOR=0.301, 95% CI: 0.113-0.803, p=0.016). Children who had inadequate intake of vitamin A were 7.9 times more likely to be underweight compared to those who took adequate amounts (AOR=7.967, 95% CI: 1.169-54.309, p=0.034). In conclusion, this study highlights significant concerns regarding the sub-optimal feeding practices and inadequate nutritional content in the foods examined. The findings indicate a pressing need for improved dietary practices and increased attention to essential nutrients, including energy, niacin, iron, zinc, calcium, dietary fiber, and vitamins.