A study on the impact of energy dense nutritive food on health and nutrition of infants and young children
Loading...
Date
2020
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
DRPCAU, Pusa
Abstract
The first 1000 days of life i.e. the interval between pregnancy and first two years of life is regarded as a critical window for boosting optimum growth, behavioural development and health. It caters a window of opportunity to intervene, avert growth faltering, malnutrition and diseases in infants and young children and furnish a strong foundation for physical and mental performance in coming years and better quality of life. Infancy is a period of rapid growth and development constituting 0 to 12 months of age and young children are typically referred to as infants in the first year, but as they enter the second year of life and become more mobile, they are usually called toddlers, from about 12 months to 36 months of age. Infants grow speedily between six to twenty-four months age and require more nutrients in relation to their body size. They are vulnerable to dietary imbalances and deficiencies. Malnutrition in infants and young children typically develops during the first 6 to 18 months of life and is mainly due to poor intake of nutrient and energy dense diets, comprising principally of starch-rich staples which are provided along with breastfeeding.
Hence, this study was designed and performed at thirteen Anganwadi Centres of Harpur panchayat, Pusa block of Samastipur district. After paying several visits and using a standard questionnaire, a total of 268 infants and young children of six to
twenty-four months were enrolled under this study. Using WHO child growth standards and processing the obtained anthropometric parameters, it was observed that the prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight rate found to be 33.21, 13.06 and 20.90 per cent respectively while the outbreak of severe stunting, severe wasting and severe underweight were 1.49, 5.97 and 1.49 per cent respectively.
So, in order to combat malnutrition an energy dense nutritive food (EDNF) was prepared making use of ingredients like peanut, skim milk powder, sugar, wheat, green gram dal and ghee. This EDNF has paste like consistency, smooth texture, ready to use, easy to carry and requires no refrigeration. It provides about 500 to 550 Kcal energy and 14 to 16 gram protein per 100 gram.
For acceptability of prepared EDNF, the simplest and widely used sensory evaluation test was adopted, called as 5-point Hedonic Rating test. All the malnourished infants and young children along with their mothers tasted it and the mothers assigned a score to all the attributes of EDNF. The scores obtained for colour, appearance, flavour, texture, taste and overall acceptability were found to be 4.45 ± 0.51, 4.35 ± 0.58, 4.75 ± 0.44, 4.80 ± 0.41, 5 ± 0 and 5 ± 0 respectively. So, it can be concluded that the energy dense nutritive food is well accepted and liked very much by the malnourished infants and young children and can be used for treatment of malnutrition among infants and young children.
Further, it is recommended to increase energy and other nutrient in food through the inclusion of other food groups in daily diet of children in order to maintain minimum dietary diversity.