Nutritional Status, Nutrient Intake and Anthropometric Indices of Children from Agri-business Families, South Africa

Food producing families are presumed nutrition secure. This study sought to evaluate the nutritional status of children from historically disadvantaged agri-business families. A purposeful sample comprised of 263 agri-business households, and 302 children aged 5-13 years. A 24h recall and food frequency questionnaires were administered along with other questionnaires on the households’ socio-economic status and feeding practices, and the caregivers’ nutritional knowledge. Food models and Food finder III nutritional software were used to calculate nutrient intake. Statistical Package for Social Sciences, Version 20, was used to perform descriptive, correlation and non-parametric statistical analyses. The households had low food variety and debatably high dietary diversity scores. Generally, nutrient intake varied (p≤0.05) with children’s age and gender. Most children had normal weight-to-age (80.14%), normal height-to-age (90.7%) and normal body mass index-for-age Z-scores (56.57%). The children’s nutritional status was found to be the function of low farm and non-farm income, low expenditure on food, and low educational status of caregivers. The children did not necessarily have elevated feeding patterns, and nutrient intake. The majority had normal anthropometric indices, although obesity appeared a creeping problem. Nutrition education, diversification and intensification of agri-business practices were highly recommended.