Effect of nutrition education on dietary diversity among HIV Patients in Southeast, Nigeria.

Background: Integrating nutrition interventions which include nutrition education in HIV/AIDS care program may help people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) make better decisions regarding their nutrition to improve their immune system. Objective: To determine the effect of nutrition education on dietary diversity among HIV/AIDS patients in Southeast, Nigeria. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted among 370 HIV patients divided into two groups of 185 each for the study and control groups. The nutrition education program was delivered to the study group. In both groups, their practice of dietary diversity was ascertained pre- and post-intervention. The Chi-square test and McNemar were used in the analysis. Results: Practice of dietary diversity was low among 79(42.7) and 69(37.3) respondents in the study and control groups respectively (x2 =1.126, p=0.289). Three months after the intervention, the proportion of respondents with low dietary diversity significantly decreased from 42.7% to 22.7% in the study group while the control group had no appreciable reduction (x2=7.532, p=0.006). Conclusion: Nutrition education plays a positive role in the dietary diversity of PLWHA. This suggests that nutrition education should be a key component in the care of PLWHA for a better nutritional outcome.

Bioelectric impedance analysis of body composition of children and adolescents with sickle cell anemia in Enugu, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Body composition indices are widely used to evaluate growth and nutrition in children, particularly those with sickle cell anemia (SCA), who are known to have impaired growth, impaired skeletal maturation, and delayed puberty. The current study is aimed at determining the body composition of children with SCA. METHODS: Consecutive selection of SCA children aged 6 to 18 years, who served as subjects and their age and gender matched children with HbAA (controls), selected using multi-stage systematic sampling. It was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted at the pediatric hematology and oncology clinic. Bioelectric impedance analysis was used to determine the body composition parameters, including weight, body fat percentage (BFP), visceral fat percentage, body mass index (BMI), skeletal muscle percentage, and resting metabolic rate. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16.0 at P < 0.05. RESULTS: One hundred and thirty-two subjects and controls respectively were studied. Subjects had lower body composition parameters compared with controls, with the older male subjects aged 10 to 18 years, having lower body composition indices (weight, height, BMI, and BFP) compared with controls. Visceral fat percentage was low in both subjects and controls. CONCLUSIONS: Children with SCA, particularly the older males, have impaired body composition indices. There is a need to conduct further studies to determine the longitudinal aspects of growth as well as quantitative and qualitative assessment of nutritional intake in children with SCA, which will inform higher alimentation requirements for HbSS children as compared with HbAA individuals.