Snack consumption in normal and undernourished preschool children in Northeastern Thailand.

OBJECTIVE: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a rural area of the Northeastern region in Thailand. The study aimed to investigate factors influencing nutritional status and to explore the pattern of snack consumption. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Subjects were 85 normal and 85 undernourished pre-school children with ages ranging from 2-6 years old. The authors collected demographic data including socio-economic status and family background by using an interview administered questionnaire. A 5-day food record was used to evaluate nutritional intake. RESULTS: The results indicated that children in both groups preferred crispy snacks between breakfast and lunch. Energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate, calcium and sodium intake derived from snacks and overall intake were significantly lower in undernourished children than those in normal children (p-value < 0.01). The results indicated that energy intake in pre-school malnourished children (2-3 years) as percentage of recommended daily allowance was lower than the recommended level. High sodium intake was observed in the presented study children and the results supported the observation that snack foods contribute to excessive sodium intake. CONCLUSION: The present results have highlighted the impact of snack consumption. Programmes aimed at increasing nutritional knowledge and information for parents and guardians are important. Furthermore, promotion of nutritious snack consumption among children is important.

The heme iron content of urban and rural Thai diets.

This study aimed to investigate the total iron and heme iron in animal foods, and calculate the heme iron content in urban and rural Thai diets. The samples included land animals and their products (meat, visceral tissue, blood curd and others), fish as well as other aquatic and marine animals. All samples were collected from 3 randomly selected markets located in Bangkok and its vicinity. Analysis of heme iron from foods was done by Han's method. The results showed the mean heme iron in the animal foods was in the range of 17.43-80.83 per cent of total iron. The highest mean heme iron was in the blood curd group and the lowest mean heme iron content was in the fish group. Based on the average amounts of animal food groups consumed per capita/day in the Thai diet which appeared in the Fourth National Nutrition Survey in Thailand (1995), the heme iron content in urban and rural diet was calculated. It was found that the animal iron in the urban and rural diets was 15 per cent and 13 per cent of total dietary iron. Only 7 per cent and 5 per cent of total dietary iron were present as heme iron. The proportion of heme content to total iron derived from animals in the urban diet was 44 per cent. This finding was higher than the estimated value of 40 per cent originally suggested by the Monsen Model. However, in the rural diet, this proportion was 41 per cent which was slightly higher than the suggested estimation.