European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

EVALUATION OF NUTRITIONAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROFILE AMONG CHILDREN ATTENDING A RURAL SCHOOL IN AZILAL- HIGH ATLAS OF MOROCCO

Ahmed Badahi*, El Arbi Rjimati, Khalid El Kari, Asmaa El hamdouchi, Youness Taboz, Hasnae Benkirane, Amina Barkat and Hassan Aguenaou

ABSTRACT

Micronutrient deficiencies are a public health problem in Morocco. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the mineral and vitamin status of children enrolled in a rural area located in the Kingdom of Morocco. The study involved a sample of 152 randomized primary school children aged between 7 and 9 years old, in the Moroccan district of Azilal. The data collected were processed by the Nutrilog software integrating the Moroccan food composition and were subjected to statistical analysis by the SPSS software version 2.1. The main results of this study concern the following micronutrients: Iron, Iodine, Zinc, Magnesium, Potassium, Sodium and Calcium, Vitamins A and D. The results showed that the prevalence of insufficient in average daily intakes of iron is more than 33%, while iodine and Zinc insufficient are more than 90%. Concerning the Magnesium and Potassium the prevalence is more than 50% whereas the excess of sodium is barely perceptible at 0.7%. The daily intake average insufficient prevalence of calcium and vitamin D is more than 80% and vitamin A is over than 90%. Nearly 81.4 % of households spent less than US$ 147 / month for their food needs. The diet behavior of the studied population is highly unbalanced and the micronutrient intake is highly insufficient. The results of this study recommend the improvement of the nutritional education programs for children, teachers and parents.

Keywords: Schoolchildren-Rural-Recall 24 -vitamin-Minerals-Food composition table.