Dietary Micronutrient Intake amongst Mothers in Kangai and Mutithi locations of Mwea West Sub County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the Dietary Micronutrient Intake amongst Mothers in Kangai and Mutithi locations of Mwea West Sub County, Kenya. The study design was cross sectional survey while data collecting instruments included a structured questionnaire and a meal preparation observation guide.  Data were collected on the dietary intake of Vitamin A, iron, and zinc through the four weeks food frequency recall technique, and through observation of Meal preparation in the households.  A sample of 399 mothers participated in the structure questionnaire while a sub sample of 63 mothers participated in the meals preparation.  The data were processed by the use of the SPSS software. Food Consumption Score tool were used to compute acceptable, borderline and poor categories of dietary intake of micronutrients while National Nutrient Data base for Standard Reference, Release 26 Software v.1.4, to compute nutrient content in foods. The t-tests were used to test hypotheses. It was established that food consumption behaviors and the dietary intake of micronutrients were significantly different in the two locations (p < 0.05). The mothers did not meet the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) for Vitamin A, iron and zinc, while Food Consumption Score ( FCS ) tool categorized  33% of the mothers in Kangai and 51% in Mutithi under poor dietary micronutrient intake.  The study concluded that mothers in the two studied locations experienced micronutrient deficiency. Further research is recommended using serum biochemical analysis of Vitamin A, iron and zinc in order to get the actual status of these micronutrients in the community.

Key Words: Malnutrition, Micronutrient Status, Food Security Status, dietary intake, Poverty