Nutritional adequacy of school lunch box on nutritional status of children

Jyoti Rao and Anitha, C. and Sushma, B.V. (2016) Nutritional adequacy of school lunch box on nutritional status of children. Journal of Farm Sciences, 29 (5). pp. 650-655.

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Abstract

Good nutrition in school children is essential for improved academic scores, immune status, better health andthus a productive community. Lunch boxes constitute 33.3% of a child's daily food intake. The study was carried out withan objective: To assess nutritional adequacy of school lunch box as compared to RDA with respect to the age and to find outparents nutrition knowledge and their role in meeting nutritional adequacy in children. Findings: The present cross sectionalobservation study was carried out in an apartments located in urban area of Bangalore. Fifty four children between 6 and 14yrs and their mothers were selected for the purpose of the present study. Anthropometry assessments revealed 11.3%underweight; 77.4% normal; 9.4% overweight and 1% obesity in participated children. It was found that contribution oflunchbox to nutritional adequacy was only 20- 40% of RDA. Daily calorie, protein and fat requirements met from lunch boxby children were 66.1%, 60.4% and 47.2%, respectively. However iron and calcium intake was inadequate. Twenty fourhour dietary recall revealed deficits in calorie and calcium intake and excess fat intake by the participated children. Therewas a significant association in the nutrients intake in comparison to RDA. Forty one percent mothers had adequatenutritional knowledge while 18.9 to 21.6% had good and inadequate nutrition knowledge. The level of knowledge towardsnutritional value of cooked food by the mothers was poor. Mothers used to feed their children based on the preparationmade for the whole family, likes and dislikes of the child, and cultural practices. Only 64.2% children would complete theirlunchbox and enjoy their food. Conclusion: Evidently it can be concluded that homemade lunchboxes contributed to thedaily nutritional needs of the child. Parent's nutrition knowledge which plays an important role in meeting the dailynutritional requirements of the children was found to be low.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	B Life Science > Food Science and Nutrition
Divisions:	Department of > Food Science and Nutrition
Depositing User:	Manjula P Library Assistant
Date Deposited:	17 Jun 2019 06:03
Last Modified:	17 Jun 2019 06:03
URI:	http://eprints.uni-mysore.ac.in/id/eprint/3224

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