Assessment of health parameters in school going children: Dept. of PG Studies in FSN (M.Sc)-2019

September 12, 2019

Assessment of health parameters in school going children was done by the students of III semester of Department of P.G. Studies in Food Science and Nutrition on 12th September 2019 .The activity was conducted in Besant Kannada Medium School, Mangaluru.
Target group: Children of age 9-12 years were chosen for the study.
Assessment: The nutritional assessment of the school going children was done by using direct method of assessment that included anthropometric measurement, clinical analysis along with dietary assessment. The anthropometric measurements that were used are:
•Height measurement
•Weight measurement
•Mid upper arm circumference
The clinical analysis was done by identifying and analysing the deficiency symptoms in various parts of the body such as head size, hair, face, skin, eyes, lips, tongue, teeth and gums.
The dietary assessment of the kids was conducted by 24-hour diet recall method where the kids were asked about what they ate on a regular basis. Based on the calculations their nutritional intake was interpreted.

Interpretation : The results obtained after the assessment were statistically analysed. It was found that the whole of the population was deficient in calorie intake, especially girls were at higher range of deficiency than boys. It was observed that, none of them were consuming adequate calories and whole group was calorie deficient. About 1 child in every 20 children was mildly malnourished whereas 30% of the population was moderately malnourished and 70% of the population was severely malnourished. It was observed that girls were more malnourished than boys. The data collected from 24-hour diet recall revealed that the diet pattern of kids showed deficiencies in major nutrients.
Outcome: The study conducted showed that due to unavailability of resources the school kids lacked in all the nutrients and also the diet consumed was imbalanced.