Nutritional Intervention on Childhood Malnutritionin of Rural Nurseries in Qazvin Province, Iran

Background : Malnutrition is one of the major causes of mortality and morbidity in children. Not only include acute effects on children's health, but also it has long-term effects on their cognitive development and economic growth in the society. Wasting (weight for height with Z< -1) is one of the malnutrition indices in children. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of a cooked meal for 175 days on the anthropometric indices of weight, height and weight for height (wasting) of 3-6 years old children in all the rural nursery of Qazvin province, in Iran.
Materials and Methods : In this interventional study, 2385 children (48.8% female and 51.2% male) were recruited. Data were collected by a census in 2010. The children were received a cooked meal based on 360±20 kcal energy, 17% protein, 53% carbohydrate and 30% fat per day for 175 days at lunch time. The anthropometric indices were collected before and after the intervention. The results were analyzed using Paired t-test by SPSS-16 software.
Results : Prevalence of wasting malnutrition (mild & moderate) and sever after intervention reduced from 14.2 % and 0.95 % to 12.6% and 0.5 %, respectively (p< 0.05). Receiving a cooked meal significantly decreased wasting (15.2% to 13.2%) in all children (p< 0.01).
Conclusion : Receiving a cooked meal for 175 days had a significant reduction in wasting in all children.