Dietary Risk Factors of Physical Growth of Filipino School-aged Children

Abstract Background: The study evaluated the relationship of the usual nutrient intake and protein adequacy to the prevalence of child malnutrition. Methods: Data were derived from the 2013 Philippine National Nutrition Survey. A total of 6,565 children aged 6-12 years across all the 17 regions that participated in the survey were analyzed. Two (2) non-consecutive day 24-hour dietary recalls (24hR) were collected to estimate the individual food intake. PC-SIDE version 1.0 software (Software for Intake Distribution Estimation) was used to estimate the usual intake of energy and key nutrients accounting for between - and within-person differences in dietary intake. The 2007 WHO Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) method was used to measure the protein quality or the utilizable protein intake. Results: School-aged children were found to have lower dietary intake of utilizable protein than total protein. Higher consumption of grains and meat decreased the prevalence of stunting. Furthermore, linear growth of children was found to be associated with the dietary intake of several nutrients including utilizable protein, calcium, vitamin B12, vitamin C and vitamin D. The prevalence of stunting and underweight significantly decreased with a higher consumption of utilizable protein. Milk consumption decreased the prevalence of underweight. The prevalence of underweight also decreases with a higher dietary consumption of calcium, riboflavin and vitamin C. Higher consumption of grains also decreased the prevalence of underweight and wasting. A decreased prevalence of wasting was also found with higher dietary consumption of riboflavin, thiamine and fiber. On the contrary, higher consumption of meat, milk and grains increased the prevalence of obesity. In particular, higher dietary consumption of utilizable protein and vitamin C increased the prevalence of obesity. Conclusions: Even though the dietary total protein intake of school-aged children is considered adequate, the existence of malnutrition among children may be specifically attributed to quality of protein consumed. Therefore, the study suggests that nutrition interventions and policies focusing on child malnutrition should improve not just the quantity, but the quality of protein sources consumed by children to aid in proper growth and development.