Cargando…

The Household Food Security and Feeding Pattern of Preschool Children in North-Central Nigeria

Children’s feeding patterns and health outcomes are important determinants of any country’s food and nutrition security status. This study assessed the household food security and feeding patterns of preschoolers in Niger State, Nigeria. A cross-sectional descriptive design and a multi-stage samplin...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Omachi, Bosede Alice, Van Onselen, Annette, Kolanisi, Unathi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9572999/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36235764
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu14194112
_version_ 1784810757980946432
author Omachi, Bosede Alice
Van Onselen, Annette
Kolanisi, Unathi
author_facet Omachi, Bosede Alice
Van Onselen, Annette
Kolanisi, Unathi
author_sort Omachi, Bosede Alice
collection PubMed
description Children’s feeding patterns and health outcomes are important determinants of any country’s food and nutrition security status. This study assessed the household food security and feeding patterns of preschoolers in Niger State, Nigeria. A cross-sectional descriptive design and a multi-stage sampling technique were employed to analyze 450 preschool children from selected local government areas. Household food security was measured using the HFIAS nine-item questionnaire, and feeding patterns were evaluated using the qualitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). The mean age of the preschoolers was 3.71 ± 0.80 years. A majority (61.30%) of the children consumed cereal-based products, while fruits and vegetables were the least consumed (16.40%). More than half (59.80%) of the preschoolers met their minimum dietary diversity. Almost all (98.80%) of the children were from food-insecure households, with 40.3% being severely food insecure. Parity, religion, and having a breadwinner and source of potable water were significantly associated with the adequacy of minimum dietary diversity (MDD) among the preschoolers (F value = 5.528, p ≤ 0.05). The contribution of poor feeding patterns and household food insecurity to the overall health outcome of preschoolers cannot be overlooked. Hence, nations must prioritize improving the availability, accessibility, and utilization of food to better meet the nutritional needs of preschool children.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9572999
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-95729992022-10-17 The Household Food Security and Feeding Pattern of Preschool Children in North-Central Nigeria Omachi, Bosede Alice Van Onselen, Annette Kolanisi, Unathi Nutrients Article Children’s feeding patterns and health outcomes are important determinants of any country’s food and nutrition security status. This study assessed the household food security and feeding patterns of preschoolers in Niger State, Nigeria. A cross-sectional descriptive design and a multi-stage sampling technique were employed to analyze 450 preschool children from selected local government areas. Household food security was measured using the HFIAS nine-item questionnaire, and feeding patterns were evaluated using the qualitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). The mean age of the preschoolers was 3.71 ± 0.80 years. A majority (61.30%) of the children consumed cereal-based products, while fruits and vegetables were the least consumed (16.40%). More than half (59.80%) of the preschoolers met their minimum dietary diversity. Almost all (98.80%) of the children were from food-insecure households, with 40.3% being severely food insecure. Parity, religion, and having a breadwinner and source of potable water were significantly associated with the adequacy of minimum dietary diversity (MDD) among the preschoolers (F value = 5.528, p ≤ 0.05). The contribution of poor feeding patterns and household food insecurity to the overall health outcome of preschoolers cannot be overlooked. Hence, nations must prioritize improving the availability, accessibility, and utilization of food to better meet the nutritional needs of preschool children. MDPI 2022-10-03 /pmc/articles/PMC9572999/ /pubmed/36235764 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu14194112 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Omachi, Bosede Alice
Van Onselen, Annette
Kolanisi, Unathi
The Household Food Security and Feeding Pattern of Preschool Children in North-Central Nigeria
title The Household Food Security and Feeding Pattern of Preschool Children in North-Central Nigeria
title_full The Household Food Security and Feeding Pattern of Preschool Children in North-Central Nigeria
title_fullStr The Household Food Security and Feeding Pattern of Preschool Children in North-Central Nigeria
title_full_unstemmed The Household Food Security and Feeding Pattern of Preschool Children in North-Central Nigeria
title_short The Household Food Security and Feeding Pattern of Preschool Children in North-Central Nigeria
title_sort household food security and feeding pattern of preschool children in north-central nigeria
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9572999/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36235764
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu14194112
work_keys_str_mv AT omachibosedealice thehouseholdfoodsecurityandfeedingpatternofpreschoolchildreninnorthcentralnigeria
AT vanonselenannette thehouseholdfoodsecurityandfeedingpatternofpreschoolchildreninnorthcentralnigeria
AT kolanisiunathi thehouseholdfoodsecurityandfeedingpatternofpreschoolchildreninnorthcentralnigeria
AT omachibosedealice householdfoodsecurityandfeedingpatternofpreschoolchildreninnorthcentralnigeria
AT vanonselenannette householdfoodsecurityandfeedingpatternofpreschoolchildreninnorthcentralnigeria
AT kolanisiunathi householdfoodsecurityandfeedingpatternofpreschoolchildreninnorthcentralnigeria