The nutrient intake of children aged 12–36 months living in two communities in the Breede Valley, Western Cape province, South Africa

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe the current macro- and micronutrient intake of children (both boys and girls) in two selected communities in the Breede Valley, Worcester.

Design: This was a quantitative cross-sectional study.

Setting: The study focused on two disadvantaged communities in Worcester (Avian Park and Zweletemba) in the Breede Valley, Western Cape province.

Subjects: The study subjects were 248 children (Avian Park, n = 117; Zweletemba, n = 131) aged 12–36 months.

Method: The macro-and micronutrient intake of the children was determined using a validated, interviewer-administered quantitative food frequency questionaire, and compared against the estimated average requirement (EAR) and adequate intake (AI) of nutrients. The nutrient adequacy ratio was calculated, as well as percentage deviation from the EAR and AI.

Results: More than 20% of the children had a calcium and folate intake that deviated by more than 50% below the EAR in both communities and for both genders. More participants in Zweletemba had an intake that deviated by more than 50% above the EAR and AI, compared to Avian Park, for carbohydrate, thiamine, niacin and iron.

Conclusion: With the exception of folate, calcium and selenium, the average reported nutrient intake of the children (boys and girls) in both the communities was adequate.

Keywords:

• food frequency questionaire
• macronutrients
• micronutrients
• nutrient intake

Acknowledgements

The financial support of the Stellenbosch University Hope Project is gratefully acknowledged. We sincerely thank the caregivers and mothers, as well as the children from both communities who participated in this study. Appreciation is given to the Breede Valley Municipality, the field workers and community leaders, as without their support and cooperation this study would not have been possible. We thank Prof Hannelie Nel and team for data cleaning and for the quality assurance of the study data. The expertise and painstaking efforts of Tonya Esterhuizen in the statistical analysis of this study data are highly appreciated. Finally, we thank all members of the community nutrition security project study team for their invaluable contribution to the success of this study. This research project was conducted as part of the academic requirements of the MSc in Clinical Epidemiology www.sun.ac.za/clinepi, Stellenbosch University.