Valoración nutricional y desarrollo de un manual de alimentación en niños de 1 a 5 años del Centro de Educación Inicial Rayitos de Luz, Azogues 2023

Abstract

Background: The evaluation of the nutritional status and eating habits in the preschool period allows the identification of nutritional problems for timely intervention. Objective: To evaluate the nutritional status and eating habits of children from 1 to 5 years old who attend the Initial Education Center “Rayitos de Luz”, Azogues 2023. Methodology: A descriptive crosssectional study was carried out with 39 children from 1 to 5 years old. The information was collected with an anthropometric data form, a food questionnaire (KIDMED) and the Socioeconomic Level Stratification Survey from INEC, the data were analyzed in the IBM SPSS Statistics v.25 program, using, standard deviation, mean, frequency and percentage. The relationship between variables was established with Odds Ratio (OR). Results: The 59.0% of the population represent male and 41.0% female with a mean age of 3.10 years old (±1.23), 61.5% had a normal nutritional status and 38.5% malnutrition for excess and deficit. The 76.9% had a medium eating habits, and 23.1% optimal. The typical middle socioeconomic level was more prevalent (56.4%), followed by the upper middle level (38.5%) and the high level and low middle (2.6%). A significant relationship was found between nutritional status and male sex, but not for eating habits and socioeconomic status. Conclusion: It is evident that the highest percentage of the population evaluated had a normal nutritional status and a medium eating habits.