Nutritional status of children of various aboriginal communities in Peninsular-Malaysia
Kasim, M.S.; Ismail, Z.; Ibrahim, L.
Journal of the Singapore Paediatric Society 29(Suppl): 96-100
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0037-5683 PMID: 3657102 Document Number: 293106
An anthropometric study of 566 Orang Asli children 10 years old or less was made in 28 villages in 7 separate areas of Peninsular Malaysia. Using the USA National Center for Health Statistics reference as a standard, 56% of these children were underweight and 65.7% were stunted. Using the reference mid-upper arm circumference values of Wolanski, 41.8% had low mid-arm circumference. Results suggest that the prevalence of severe malnutrition is very high among the aborigines of Peninsular Malaysia. Infants under 6 months old have better nutritional state probably due to the predominance of breast feeding, but it seems that sweetened condensed milk is increasingly being used for feeding infants, sometimes as early as the first month. The aboriginal children become severely underweight immediately after 6 months probably due to the low-energy/low-protein weaning diet consisting mainly of tapioca.