Effectiveness evaluation of dietary intervention among migrant children in Hongshan District of Wuhan / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To understand nutrient intake and dietary structure among migrant children in primary schools in Hongshan District of Wuhan, so as to carry out dietary nutrition intervention and evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention.@*Methods@#Stratified random sampling was used to select children in grade 3-6 who were randomly assigned to the intervention group (n=218) and the control group (n=222) from primary schools with a large number of migrant children in Hongshan District of Wuhan. After the baseline survey, the intervention group was given a two month diet intervention with "nutrition class" and knowledge lecture, and the caregivers of the intervention group were also given an intervention.@*Results@#At baseline, both groups had inadequate nutrient intake, with adequate intake rate of calcium, selenium, vitamin B 1 and vitamin B 2 less than 5%; children were lack of dietary diversity with adequate intake of vegitable, milk and milk product less than 5%. After intervention, the intake of energy, three main macronutrients, calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin C in the intervention group were higher than that of before intervention, as well as than the control group, differences were statistically significant (Z=2.22-8.65，2.62-8.46，P<0.05). In terms of dietary structure, adequate intake rate of cereals and miscellaneous beans increased from 55.5% to 68.8%, livestock and poultry meat increased from 45.9% to 56.4%, which were higher than that of the control group (56.3% and 44.6%) (χ 2=5.29-13.25，4.39-14.13，P<0.05).@*Conclusion@#Inadequate nutrient intake and unreasonable dietary structure of migrant children can be improved through short term dietary intervention including nutrition education to both parents and children.