Abstract

Author(s): Tarqui Mamani, Carolina1; Alvarez Dongo, Doris2; Rosales Pimentel, Silvia2; Espinoza Oriundo, Paula2

Introduction: Nutrient intake influences malnutrition, childhood is a window of opportunity for the development of interventions that contribute to improve the nutritional status of children.

Objectives: Determine the nutrient intake according to nutritional status of Peruvian children.

Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study included 1296 children between 6 to 35 months of age. The sampling was probabilistic, stratified and multistage. Nutrient intake was calculated by reminder of 24 h according to patterns of the FAO/WHO/UNU, ideal weight, breastfeeding included in the analysis. It was considered percentage of intake very poor (<70%), poor (≥70 to <90), adequate (≥90% to 2; z score ≤3) and obesity (W/H> 3 z score). The processing was performed with complex samples adjusted by weighting. Percentages, chi square and confidence interval were calculated at 95%.

Results: Adequate intake was 15.2% energy, 2.4% total protein, 15.3% fat, 6.9% iron, 5.8% vitamin A and zinc 11.1% (p<0.001). Significant differences between nutritional status and energy were found (p=0.007), total protein (p<0.001), fat (p=0.013), vitamin A (p=0.001) and zinc (p=0.008) except iron (p=0.593).

Discussion: The results show that the majority of children present deficient or excessive nutrient intake and influence the nutritional status of children.

Conclusions: There are significant differences between the intake of nutrients according to the nutritional status of the child, except iron.