Association of Dietary Intake with Nutritional Status of School-Going Children (5-10 years) in District Charsadda

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S chool-going age is the active growing stage of individual's life span ( UNICEF, 2003).This stage of life is vital for physical growth and mental development.Balanced diet, both in terms of dietary diversity, amount and all essential nutrients intake is one of the important determinants of malnutrition in this age group (Ergin et al., 2007) While there may be differences in the prevalence and magnitude of malnutrition, children of school going age are considered a risk group for under-nutrition (Odunayo Abstract | This cross sectional study had two objectives: 1) to evaluate the nutritional status and nutrients intake of the study subject, and 2) to find out the association of nutrients intake with nutritional status.This Study was conducted in Bahlola, a rural Union Council of District Charsadda KPK.The study included 235 school-going children of both sex aged 5-10 years.A Pre-tested questionnaire was used for collection of data for the parameters: socio-demographics, anthropometrics, and dietary intake.Data on anthropometrics included measurement of weight, height and BMI.Age and anthropometrics (weight, height and BMI) were used for z-score calculation following WHO standards and using WHO AnthroPlus software.Dietary data were collected in a 24-HR Dietary Recall Questionnaire.Data were analyzed in SPSS (Version 20) and was reported in means (SD).Pearson correlation analyses were performed to establish relation between anthropometrics and nutrients intake.A p-vale<0.05 was considered as significant.Children of the current study belonged to low-middle socioeconomic class.Prevalence of malnutrition as indicated by any of the three indicators was: underweight 16.8%; stunting 27.7%; thinness 9.8 %.Correlation between age and protein and energy intake, and weight and energy and protein, showed that protein energy intake increased with increasing age and weight.Overall, both stunting and underweight were more common in girls than boys.Girls in general, had poor nutrient intake compared to boys, girls were therefore more likely to suffer from under-nutrition compared to boys.