Nutritional status and nutrient intake of preschool children in Northern Ghana

Objective: To determine the nutritional status and nutrient intake of presc hool children in a sub-Sahelian setting so as to ascertain whether they mee t the acceptable standards. Design: Prospective/investigative study. Setting: The study was carried out in Saboba, a rural sub-Sahelian village in northern Ghana, Subjects: Five hundred and eighteen preschool children (2.5 - 6 years) draw n from three kindergartens and five other localities were used, Intervention: Anthropometric measures of age, weight, and height were asses sed. Blood and stool samples were taken for analyses. Results: The nutritional status was generally poor, with 27% (140/519) stun ted, 4.4% (23/519) wasted and 1.9% (10/519) wasted and stunted. Majority of the children (92%) were anaemic and 16.3% had deficient level of vitamin A (<10 mu g/dL), Total caloric intake was low (only 26.5% met RDA values) an d apart from protein and iron whose RDA were met by the majority of the chi ldren (> 90%), the intake of other nutrients-calcium, vitamin C, vitamin A and provitamin A, were low and unacceptable, compared to their respective R DA values, In the case of iron, even though intake was adequate, the high a naemic rate of 92% was due to high incidence of malaria (32%), hookworm inf estation, low intake of vitamin C and low bioavailability of iron from the mainly cereal diet. Conclusion: The poor nutritional status of the children was largely due to the low intake of essential nutrients.