Abstract

PISCO, Ana; POINHOS, Rui  and  CATARINO, Elisabete. Nutritional Adequacy in Undernourished Children from 6 to 59 Months of Age, in Cantagalo (São Tomé E Príncipe). Acta Port Nutr [online]. 2015, n.3, pp.08-12. ISSN 2183-5985.  https://doi.org/10.21011/apn.2015.0302.

Introduction: Undernutrition in children is considered a public health issue, especially in developing countries, and its relation to an inadequate dietary intake is highly recognized. The lack of data concerning to São Tomé e Príncipe in this area makes it imperious to evaluate these children’s nutritional adequacy and to do more similar studies. Objectives: To know the differences between energetic and macronutrient intake and nutritional recommendations in undernourished children from 6 to 59 months of age in Cantagalo, São Tomé e Príncipe. To assess the relationship between nutritional adequacy and undernutrition type and severity, age, breastfeeding and reported difficulties in access to enough food. Methodology: In this descriptive study, a survey was applied to 118 caregivers of children from 6 to 59 months of age. Anthropometric and sociodemographic data were collected and a 24 hour recall was applied to assess children’s energy and macronutrient intake. Nutritional adequacy was determined by comparison with the DRI (non-breastfed children) and Dewey and Brown’s recommendations (for breastfed children). Results: From the sample of undernourished children, 72.9%, 59.3% and 74.6% presented values below the recommendations for energy, carbohydrates and lipids, respectively. For protein, only 14.4% were below the reference values. Older and non-breastfed children tended to be out of the recommendation. Children with moderate chronic undernutrition, comparatively to those with severe chronic undernutrition, showed a higher prevalence of energetic intake inferior to recommendations, but no significant differences were found in terms of macronutrients. Conclusions: Most of the evaluated undernourished children do not reach energetic and macronutrient recommendations, with protein being an exception. This is worse for older and non-breastfed children.

Keywords : Nutritional adequacy; Energetic and macronutrient intake; São Tomé e Príncipe; Acute undernutrition; Chronic undernutrition.

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