nutritional intervention on malnutrition in 2-6 years old children in iranshahr city, iran

Introduction: malnutrition is a major cause of mortality in children in developing countries. more than 90% of children with malnutrition live in developing countries. the present study aimed to assess the effects of nutritional intervention based on the consumption of cooked meals for 120 days on the status of malnutrition in the children aged 2-6 years in the rural nurseries in iranshahr city, iran. methods: this interventional study was conducted on 1,115 children, including 603 females and 512 males, aged 24-72 months in the rural nurseries in iranshahr city, iran. the growth status of children (body weight, height, and body mass index [bmi]) was assessed before and after the consumption of a cooked meal containing 250 kilocalories of energy per meal, 15 grams of protein, 25 grams of carbohydrates, and 10 grams of fat. after 120 days, weight-for-age, height-for-age, and bmi-for-age of the children were measured and compared before and after the intervention based on the world health organization (who) standards and the z-scores using chi-square and paired t-test. results: the prevalence of underweight (weight-for-age), stunting (height-for-age), and wasting weight (bmi-for-age) before the intervention was 63%, 58.5%, and 29.6%, respectively. after the intervention, these values were estimated at 58%, 58.8%, and 22.9%, respectively. the prevalence of underweight and wasting weight reduced significantly (p<0.05), while no improvement was observed in height-for-age (short stature) (p<0.05). conclusion: according to the results, nutritional intervention had significant effects on weight-for-age and bmi-for-age in the growth process of the children. however, it had no significant effect on the height-for-age index.