Dietary diversity and nutrient intake adequacy among women in Iwo Local Government Area, Osun State Nigeria

Dietary diversity has been considered a potential 'proxy' indicator to reflect nutrient intake adequacy. The study assessed the Dietary Diversity and Nutrient Intake Adequacy among adult women in Iwo Local Government (LGA) area of Osun State. Apparently healthy 250 adult women (20-59) were the respondents in the study. The anthropometric measurements of the respondents were taken using standard equipment. A 24-hour dietary recall questionnaire was used to assess the food intake of the respondents, which was converted into nutrient intake using adapted Total Dietary Assessment (TDA) software. Dietary Diversity Score (DDS) was created using a 15-food group model. Nutrient intake was evaluated using Nutrient Adequacy Ratio (NAR). Mean adequacy ratio (MAR) was calculated as an indicator of nutrient intake adequacy. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used for analysis of the data collected. More than half (56.4%) of the respondents had normal body weight, 15.2% were underweight, 21.2% were overweight and 7.2% were obese. The diet of the respondents consisted of food items mainly from food groups such as cereals, white roots and tubers, vitamin A-rich vegetables, spices, condiments and beverages. Fruits and foods from milk and milk products were the least consumed. The mean DDS was 8.29±1.3, 4.4% of the respondents had high DDS, 94.4% had minimum DDS and 1.2% had low DDS. The MAR was 2.56±0.69, the intake of some nutrients such as carbohydrate, fat, iron, zinc and protein was above the recommended dietary intake and there was inadequate intake for some nutrients such as calcium, vitamin C and potassium among the respondents. Consumption of foods from groups such as meat and meat products, eggs and poultry and fish were found to be significantly related with nutrient intake adequacy as respondents with adequate intake of nutrients consumed more from these food groups. These results indicate that dietary diversity is an indicator of nutrient intake adequacy. Most of the respondents consumed foods from cereals, white roots and tubers, vegetables, legumes, oil and fats, spices and condiments than from other food groups.Keywords: Dietary-diversity, Nutrient, Women, Food-groups, Overweight, Micronutrient, Adequacy, Nigeri

Nutrition and Goiter Status of Primary School Children in Ibadan, Nigeria

Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) has continued to be of significant health problem in some communities despite universal salt iodization (USI). There is therefore a need to investigate several other factors beside iodine intake that could likely contribute to the continued prevalence of iodine deficiency in these communities. This study was therefore designed to assess the iodine deficiency status of primary school children in four schools in Ibadan, and also to answer if there is a relationship between both gender and protein energy malnutrition (PEM) with iodine deficiency. Goiter status of the subjects was determined using the WHO techniques and classifications. Heights and weights were measured using standard techniques and anthropometric indices of weight-for-age, height-for-age and weight-for-height were used to classify the children into various category of nutritional status. Four hundred and seventy one (471) school children comprising of 246(52.2%) males and 225(47.7%) females were assessed. The mean age (SD) was 10.9 (1.05) yrs, mean height (SD) was 1.36 (0.08) m and mean weight (SD) was 28.7(5.3) kg. It was observed that 42.2% of the school children had palpable goiter, 21.2% were stunted, 15.1% were underweight and 3.7% were wasted. There was no significant gender difference observed for goiter, stunting, wasting and underweight. It was observed that, only goiter and stunting were significantly associated (p <0.05). Apart from goiter and stunting being chronic or long-standing, this relationship remains unclear. Since more than 40% of these children had some degree of goiter and more than 21% were stunted, iodine deficiency and malnutrition among school children in Ibadan remain public health problems