Document Details

Document Type : Article In Journal 
Document Title :
The influence of maternal nutrition education on the nutritional status of their children.
The influence of maternal nutrition education on the nutritional status of their children.
 
Document Language : English 
Abstract : The major aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of maternal nutrition education on improving their children’s nutritional status and their health generally. Children aged 4-26 months were chosen randomly from the residents of Jeddah. They were divided into two groups similar in composition with respect to socioeconomic status, and the level of nutritional awareness of their mothers: the experimental group (100 children), and the control group (464 children). Twelve monthly nutrition education lessons lasting for a year were given to the experimental group, while the control group was allowed to continue their usual feeding practices. At the beginning, all children were examined clinically, their anthropometric measurements taken, their blood samples collected, and their mothers interviewed for their nutritional history, including feeding practices, types of food and previous 24 hours intake. This was repeated six months, and finally twelve months later at the end of the study. Nutritional status including anthropometric measurements, laboratory results and dietary intake of the two groups was compared at various stages. The level of nutritional awareness of the mothers in the two groups was compared at the same time. The overall clinical picture of the experimental group improved over the follow up year so that : i) the percentage of clinical malnutrition signs, and ii) the percentage of frequent childhood complaints, decreased, or disappeared, unlike in the control group. Moreover, with respect to anthropometric measurements, the percentage of subjects with normal build increased in the experimental group over the follow up year, in contrast to the control group, and there was a significant difference between the two groups (p<.01) for both height for age, and weight for height (as percentage of standard). With respect to the hematological profile, the percentage of subjects with low hemoglobin, RBC, and HCT was lower in the experimental group (p<.001) at the end of the study, and the mean of MCV was found to be significantly higher (p<.01). biochemical evaluation showed that the mean ferritin level was significantly higher in the experimental group (p<.05), and proportion of subjects with low Vit D level significantly lower (p<.05) at the end of the study, compared to the control group. The improvement in nutritional status of the experimental group can only be attributed to the significant increase in the mean nutritional awareness score of their mothers (p<.01) compared to no increase in the control group, especially since the socioeconomic composition remained the same throughout the study. 
ISSN : 11575393 
Journal Name : the Arab Journal for Food and Nutrition 
Volume : 2 
Issue Number : 2 
Publishing Year : 2001 AH
2001 AD
 
Article Type : Article 
Added Date : Wednesday, March 24, 2010 

Researchers

Researcher Name (Arabic)Researcher Name (English)Researcher TypeDr GradeEmail
سهاد باحجريBAHIJRI, SUHAD ResearcherDoctorate 

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