A Nutrition Education Intervention to Increase Consumption of Pulses Showed Improved Nutritional Status of Adolescent Girls in Halaba Special District, Southern Ethiopia

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to determine the effect of a 6-month in-school nutrition education intervention to improve pulse consumption on weight status of adolescent girls in Ethiopia. At the intervention school, 66 girls received bi-monthly lessons that included recipes and tastings. Girls (n = 66) at the control school had usual in-school activities. With pulse-based nutrition education which included discussions and demonstrations, knowledge, attitude and practice scores improved (p < 0.001) in the intervention group while control scores remained low and unchanged. Prevalence of underweight, measured as Body Mass Index (BMI) for age, decreased with the education intervention, from 13.6% to 3% (p = 0.004), while there was no significant change seen in control girls. In Ethiopia, equipping girls in schools with the knowledge and skills to improve food intake by consuming locally grown pulses may mitigate underweight in Ethiopian female adolescents.

KEYWORDS:

• Nutrition education
• adolescent girls
• nutritional status
• legumes
• Ethiopia

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the supported in-part by the Global Affairs Canada and The International Development Centre, though the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund.;