The rural pre-school child--his growth and nutritional status
Phadke, M.V.; Deodhar, N.S.; Kulkarni, H.D.
Indian Journal of Medical Research 59(5): 748-755
1971
ISSN/ISBN: 0019-5340 PMID: 5097071 Document Number: 41477
Indian village children, 2500 from Maharashtra State and aged 1 to 5 years, were selected at random. Each was examined for signs of nutritional deficiency and anthropometric measurements were made. Detailed diet studies were made on 10 % of the children with the weekly intake of the different foods recorded. Over 90% of the children came from very poor homes. Some were still breast fed at 3 years of age but by that time 89% had been fully weaned. The highest incidence of kwashiorkor or marasmus (9%) was at age 1 to 2 years. That of hair changes was 7.2% and occurred at 2 to 3 years. Vitamin A deficiency was the commonest deficiency and it was more in boys than in girls from all age groups. Vitamin B complex deficiency occurred in about 6% of the children but it was not definitely related to sex or age. Vitamin D deficiency was more common in boys than girls, with epiphyseal enlargements as the commonest sign. Hb was not significantly different between sexes and the mean result for each age group showed no Hb deficiency. The food was mainly cereals with small quantities of vegetables. The daily milk intake was low and fell with age. Protein intake was apparently satisfactory but there were signs of protein deficiency; protein efficiency seemed low, owing to chronic diarrhoea and other factors. Energy intake was low and there were signs of marasmus.