Assessment of Usual Fruit, Vegetable and Vitamin C Intakes in a Sample of Egyptian Children: Pilot Study

The objective was to create an Egyptian database on the contributors of fruit and vegetables in the diets of preschool children and to estimate the usual daily intakes of fruits, vegetables and vitamin C. A total of 59 healthy boys and girls aged 2.5 - 6 years attending day care centers in urban Giza governorate completed the study by interviewing their mothers on 6x non-consecutive days using the 24 h dietary recall. Participants were classified according to age, gender and socioeconomic class. Prevalence of daily consumptions of fruits and vegetables amounted to 22% and 54%, respectively of the total children. The daily intakes of fruits and vegetables averaged 117.5 and 56.4 g, respectively. The consumption of different types of fruits and vegetables was unevenly distributed by different personal and social variables. Estimated daily vitamin C supply from the diet was 38 mg per child, which satisfied the respective recommended nutrient intake (RNI) of 30 mg for the first six years of life. However, the diet of 15% of the children covered less than 75% of RNI. Top fruits contributing to vitamin C were oranges, guava, watermelon, pears and grapes. Extra foods such as chipsy was consumed by 81% of the children, contributed 18% to daily vitamin C supply and also 58.6 mg sodium. A multilevel intervention strategy is warranted for promoting daily fruit and vegetable intake and healthy eating in early childhood.

Vitamin A supplement: a key strategy to prevent vitamin A deficiency among young children in Afghanistan

Background:Vitamin A deficiency is the main problem of public health worldwide demonstrated that 190 million population of preschool children and 122 countries(in Africa and South-East Asia)have vitamin A deficiency,according to recent estimated research.In Afghanistan,vitamin A supplementation is a key strategy to prevent vitamin A deficiency among young children.Children receive vitamin A supplements as part of National Immunization Days(NID)campaigns.Methods:In this case study,the data was collected from June 15/2015 to February 23/2016,and the final report of the Afghanistan Demographic Health Survey(AfDHS)2015 was released on February 15/2017.All 27,209 children aged 6-59 months who are living with their mothers were included in this study.Who consumed foods rich in vitamin A was not included in this study.Results:The percentages who were given vitamin A supplements in the last 6 months among all children 6-59 months aged.A total of 1,572 children aged among 6-8 months were given vitamin A supplements 670(42.6%)children and comparison with the total community of the study(27,209)children(2.46%).A total of 1,148 children aged among 9-11 months were given vitamin A supplements to 465(40.5%)children and comparison with the total community of the study(27,209)children(1.70%).Conclusion:After following up on more studies,we found that vitamin A deficiency is a public problem,thus it is better to use wheat flour fortification,vitamin A capsule(VAC)supplementation,nutrition education,source of vitamin A,and training of primary healthcare workers on the clinical to prevent and treat the vitamin A deficiency among children.Therefore,we aimed to determine the given vitamin A supplementation among children aged 6-59 months in 33 provinces in Afghanistan,in 2015.