Effect of soybean (glycine max) Supplementation on nutritional status of school children aged 6-9 years from HIV affected households in Suba District, Kenya

Abstract

Objective: This study investigated the effect of soybean supplementation on the nutritional status of school children from HIV affected households in western Kenya. Methodology and Results: A research design was used with 54 and 56 randomly selected subjects in the experimental and control groups, respectively. The experimental group received corn-soy blend porridge for three months at school. A structured questionnaire and anthropometry were used to collect data. Malnutrition levels among the experimental group reduced from 10.2, 28.9 and 5.6% for underweight, stunting and wasting, respectively, to 6.2, 16.7 and 3.4%, respectively. The control group registered 11.4, 28.5 and 8.7% underweight, stunting and wasting, respectively at baseline. Underweight and wasting rose to 14.3 and 9.5%, respectively, while stunting dropped to 21.5%, which were insignificant changes. Conclusion and application of findings: The feeding trial using corn-soy blend improved the nutritional status of school children in Suba District. It is likely that significant improvement of the pupils’ nutritional status would be realized with extended feeding periods. Soybean has potential to curb protein energy malnutrition and its utilization should be promoted in HIV and AIDS affected areas to alleviate malnutrition.