Impact of School Garden on Dietary Diversity and Micronutrient Level of Pre-School Children in Makueni County –Kenya
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Date
2020
Authors
Lubeka, Crippina
Kimiywe, Judith
Nyambaka, Hudson
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Research Gate
Abstract
Pre-school children are more vulnerable to malnutrition. This study sought to assess the effect of school
gardens intervention in improving serum zinc, iron, and retinol levels of pre-school children in the early childhood center
through diet diversity in Mulala ward, Makueni County, Kenya. A between-group quasi-experimental design study on a
sample of 63 children was adopted. The intervention early childhood centres were giving vegetables and animal proteins
to children from the school garden as part of the ten o'clock snack of porridge and lunchtime meal of maize and beans for
six months while the control early childhood centres had the usual ten o'clock porridge and lunchtime maize and beans
meal. Questionnaires were used to collect end line data on demographic, socio-economic, feeding practices, and diet
diversity. Blood samples were also collected from the children and blood tests for zinc, iron, and retinol done. Blood tests
for serum zinc and iron were analyzed by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry, serum retinol was assessed by
High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography. The mean dietary diversity score of the control and intervention groups was found
to be significantly different at post-intervention (p-value = <0.001). A significant and positive correlation between the levels
of serum hemoglobin, retinol, zinc and dietary diversity was observed among the intervention population (P-value =0.045,
n= 31 R=0.363), (P-value =0.033, n= 31 R=0.384), and (P-value =0.048, n= 31 R=0.358). The study concludes that the
use of a variety of green leafy vegetables and small animals in diets of young children; can improve both dietary diversity
and micronutrient level
Description
Article
Keywords
Dietary diversity score, interventions, serum level, small animals, vegetables
Citation
Lubeka, C., Kimiywe, J., & Nyambaka, H. (2020). Impact of school garden on dietary diversity and micronutrient level of preschool children in Makueni County–Kenya. Research Journal of Food Science and Nutrition, 5(4), 85-97.