The impact of some social factors and food habits on the anthropometric measurements of some school children in fayoum and dammietta governorates in Egypt
Abstract: Background: Modern lifestyle extends the umbrella of social responsibility for provision of appropriate nutritionally balanced foods to children of all age groups in particular the children in primary schools age (6-12 years old). This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted to investigate the impact of selected socio-demographic parameters as well as eating practices on the nutritional status of 1428 scholars attending primary public schools in two governorates in Egypt.
Materials and methods: Socio-demographic parameters as well as selected eating practices were collected by personal interview and assessed using validated structured questionnaires. Additionally, anthropometric measurements were taken by well trained staff using standard methods. Logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate the influence of various parameters.
Results: In the surveyed sample, children from Fayoum governorate as a representative of Upper Egypt Governorate were significantly different compared with Dammietta as a representative of Lower Egypt. The highest mean of underweight and stunting was found in Fayoum children. Parent’s education was significantly different among surveyed children. With regard to nutritional indicators high prevalence of stunting and underweight were found among children from large family size in Fayoum Governorate. This study revealed the impact of gender on nutritional status expressed as height for age (HAZ) and weight for age (WAZ). The prevalence of stunting as well as underweight among girls was about the double compared with boys in both Dammietta and Fayoum. With respect to eating practices, about two third of the surveyed children reported to take breakfast 2-3 times per week, whereas, children from Fayoum eating less than three meals per day, were double than those in Dammietta. The frequency of eating fruits either fresh or juices were almost double in Fayoum children compared with Dammietta. No significant difference was found, regarding the frequency of eating dairy products or eggs.
Conclusion: Malnutrition in general and stunting in particular adversely affects the physical and cognitive outcome of school-aged children .The results indicated a need for the development and implementation of a comprehensive nutrition education program for children oriented to local needs. .
Keywords: Nutritional Status, Scholars, Anthropometric, Socio-demographic factors.
Publication year 2015
Pages 115-134
Organization Name
serial title Egypt. J. Agric., Res.
Author(s) from ARC
Publication Type Journal
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