Dietary Predictors of Anaemia among Children Aged 12-35 Months

Abstract

Introduction: Children especially during the early years of life should have increased dietary iron and protein that needs to accommodate growth, development and the accompanying expansion of blood volume. An average Indian child can take upto 2.5 to 3.5 mg iron per day leaving a deficiency of 4-6.5 mg/day deficiency of iron while 33% of Indian children are still suffering from protein malnutrition. This deficiency of iron and protein leads to high burden of Nutritional Anaemia in Children. Aim: To find the average daily dietary consumption of iron and protein among the children aged 12-35 months and its association with anaemia. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was carried out among 200 children aged 12-35 months (prevalence 79%, relative precision 7.5%, 95% CI) residing in a sub-centre village of Meerut district, Uttar Pradesh, India. The study was carried out between May 2016 and November 2017. Dietary information was collected by 24 hour recall method done for two consecutive days on a pretested, predesigned and semistructured questionnaire. Iron and protein content in food was calculated as per ICMR guidelines, 2010, data was analysed using epi-info software 3.7.2. Results: The present study inferred that mean dietary intake of iron (2.10±1.08) mg/day and protein (18.23±0.38) mg/day among the selected population is way less than the body daily dietary requirements (5-9 mg/day) and (10-14 gm iron/day). This inadequacy in diet is reflected as high prevalence of anaemia 155 (77.5%) and malnutrition 67 (33.5%) in this age group. Conclusion: Dietary intake of iron, consumption of haem iron and non-heme iron and protein intake are not only but an important determinant of anaemia in children. Despite best of diet a child is unable to meet the dietary requirement of iron and lands up in anaemia. In this background, a daily iron supplementation regimen may play an important role to combat this disease burden.

Keywords

• child
• iron deficiency
• preschool
• protein deficiency