Micronutrient Adequacy Of Home Made Complementary Foods In Meket District Wollo North Ethiopia

Undernutrition is a serious problem worldwide due to unbalanced diet or infection . Childrenrnduring the first two years of li fe are vulnerable to several nutrition related prob lems includingrnmicronutrient deficiencies. Due to lim ited education of mother's, poor resource avai labi lity andrnaccess to different micronutrient rich food items, ach ieving better nutrition seems to be difficult.rnTn resource poor environments, the hab it of low quality monotonous diets leads to low vitaminrnand mineral intake. Women's education, access to nutrient-rich foods and household food securityrnare the determinants of nutritional status of children. The present study was designed to detenninernthe micronutrient adequacy of homemade complementary foods in Meket district, North Wallo,rnEthiopia. A cross sectional quantitative 24-hour recall was used to assess the micronutrient intakernof children (6-23 mol. From two randomly selected kebeles, 78 chi ldren (6 to 23 mol were thernsubject of the study. Undern utrition was high among the chi ldren. About 45.5% of the chi ldrenrnwere stunted. Majority (92.3%) of the children's diet was cereal based and none of the childrenrnhad animal source foods in the 24 hrs preceding the survey; only eight (8 .97%) children wererngiven cow milk. DietalY diversity was very low; on average, the children consumed 2.52±0.78rnfood groups and 3.32+ 1.23 food va ri eties. Feeding practices were very poor (initiation ofrncomplementary feeding was practiced allO months on 33 (42.3%), at II mo on 35 (44.9%) and atrn12 on 10 (12.8%) of chi ldren, frequency of complementary feeding was two - three times inrn59.5% children). The nutrient intakes of the children in a group indicated that mean energy intakern199.08± 11 5.9 1, Iron intake (for 9- 11 mo ages) 3.37±2. 13, Zinc intake 1.76±1.45 Calcium intakern19.8±9.28 and Vitamin A intake 30.8±17.3 and Iron intake (for 12-23 mo age) 4.3±2. 12, Zincrnintake 1.8±0.8, Calcium intake J5.6±4.83 and Vitamin A 34.4 I± J8.46 were below the WHOrnrecommendations. Lack of mothers awareness on app ropri ate complementary feeding and childrncaring pract ices, high cost of ASF foods and time constraints of the mother counts poorrnconsumption and limited intake of nutrient. Generally due to low dietary intake, the nutrientrnintake of the children did not meet the recommended level (346, 5.6 and 3.8 is estimated dailyrnintake ofCa, iron and zinc respectively).rnKey words:Complementary foods, micro nutrient, mothers 'Fcaregivers ' perspective, in fant feedingrnpractice.

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