Effectiveness of nutritional supplementation on nutritional status and zinc deficiency in stunting and at risk of stunting school children in Cam Thuy district, Thanh Hoa province

Abstract

A community - based randomized control trial was conducted in 6 primary schools in Cam Thuy district, Thanh Hoa province to evaluate the effectiveness of nutrient-rich products on nutrition status and zinc deficiency among children aged 6 – 10 years old with Zscore of high according to age falling from under -3SD to -1SD. 400 children were selected and randomly divided into 2 groups; the intervention group was given 2 packages of nutritional products per day and used for 4 months, and the control group followed the normal diet. Results showed that after 4 months of intervention, the HAZ score in the intervention group was statistically significantly higher than the control group. The prevalence of stunting in the intervention group was reduced significantly compared to that of the baseline meanwhile it remained unchanged in the control group. After 4 months, in the intervention group, zinc concentration was 9.5µmol/L, experienced a significant increase compared to that of baseline and to 9.0µmol/L in the controlled group. Prevalence of zinc deficiency reduced to 55.7% in the intervention group, significantly lower than the control group (p < 0.05). Supplementation of the nutrient rich products has the effectiveness on nutrition status and zinc deficiency among children aged 6 – 10 years old with HAZ scores from under -3SD to -1SD.