The dietary intakes of 10-15 years old children in the North West Province

Abstract

It is widely accepted that childhood nutrition is linked with the occurrence of certain diseases in adulthood. It is therefore important to lay a good foundation for prevention, by promoting and maintaining healthful life-style during the adolescence stage. This study aims at examining the dietary intake of the children aged 10-15 years in the North West Province of South Africa and compares it with the South African Food Based Dietary guidelines. The South African food-based dietary guidelines (SAFBDGs) were developed by the SAFBDG working group in order to promote optimal nutrition for all South Africans 5 years and above. These guidelines were based on the recommendations made by World Health Organisation. The major character of the guidelines is that they should be positive, practical, affordable and culturally sensitive. Th~ sudden changes that occur during adolescence create special nutritional needs for this age group. This stage is considered especially vulnerable nutritionally because there is an increased demand for nutrients related to dramatic increases in physical growth and development. The change of life-style and food habits during this stage also affects both nutrient intakes and needs. The adolescents' choice of food is influenced by cultural, psychological as well as technological factors. For adolescents to maintain optimal health, they should fo llow the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for their age and genderA group of seven hundred and twenty five (725) children aged 10-15 years in the North West Province of South Africa was randomly sampled to participate in this study. Of the sample, 52.1% were blacks, 25.4% were whites, 11.4% were Indians and the remaining 11.1% were coloureds. The survey procedure included the collection data using the 24-hour recall, coding and the analysis of data. The findings of this study indicated that on the nutrient intakes, more children had intakes of less the than recommended level for their age and gender for a number of important nutrients. The mean intakes of the following nutrients were below the recommended level in all the age groups and gender: calcium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin C, folic acid, biotin, pantothenic acid, zinc and copper. The findings also indicated an extremely poor compliance of the dietary intake of the children in the study with the South African food based dietary guidelines. Making recommendations that would help improve the -= current situation concluded this section. Some of the most important recommendations made were that nutrition information be provided to children through nutrition education programmes; the current menus of the primary school nutrition programs are reviewed with a view to improve dietary variety and quality of food used; these foods should preferably be selected from the food grcup.s i,1 which the children of this study had low intakes; this includes fruit and vegetables; tuck-shops at schools should be monitored in order to ensure that healthy and nutritious snacks are sold to those children who bring money to school and lastly, the key findings of this study need to be widely disseminated to the public and health workers in order to increase awareness of the level and nature of food and nutrient insecurity together with its effect on the health and well being of the children in the North West Province of South Africa.