title: Dietary intake of primary school children in relation to food production in a rural area in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
abstract: The adequacy of food intake of primary school children living in a low socioeconomic rural area, +/- 60 km northwest of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa was assessed in a cross-sectional study. Primary school children, 10 and 11 years old and in grades 5, 6 and 7, and their mothers/caretakers were interviewed. Dietary intake was assessed by a 24-h recall and an unquantified food frequency questionnaire. Local food production was assessed by questionnaire. The diet consumed by the children comprised a limited number of food items. Fruit and vegetable consumption was low, resulting in a poor intake of micronutrients. Despite the local production of some vitamin A rich food crops, the quantity grown and eaten was low. The long-term solutions for combatting micronutrient deficiencies in this rural area include targeted local food production accompanied by a nutrition education programme, to be initiated and monitored by a multi-sectoral team of agriculturists and health scientists.
authors.affiliation: National Research Programme for Nutritional Intervention, Medical Research Council, Tygerberg, South Africa.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Faber
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Smuts
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Benadé
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D002648:Child; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet; D004034:Diet Surveys; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005511:Food Handling; D005518:Food Preferences; D006801:Humans; D018977:Micronutrients; D012423:Rural Health; D013019:South Africa
chemical_list: D018977:Micronutrients