[Assessment of the dietary habits of short girls and boys].

Abstract

Background: The problem of body height deficiency, being the effect of undernutrition of children in developing countries, is widely described in the literature, whereas very little attention is devoted to the estimation of the nourishment of children and adolescents with a simple body height deficiency in developed countries.

Aim of the study: The purpose of the study was to estimate the nourishment of short-height girls and boys, with special regard to the realisation of the norms of daily demand for basic nutrients.

Material and methods: The investigation included 60 subjects in two age groups: 10.5 and 13.5 years old. The body height of the investigated children was below 10 centile in relation to the development norms for a given age and gender. Estimations of nourishment were made with the use of an interview about the consumption in the last 24 hours.

Results: In 22% of the investigated, energy intake was found to be lower than 75% of the daily demand. The percentage of the realisation of the norm for mineral components amounted on average to: 38.6-56.7% for calcium; 49.2-77.4% for iron; 50.1-93.2% and 45.9-72.2% for zinc and copper, respectively. Hypovitaminosis was relatively much less marked in comparison with the deficiency of mineral components. A lower consumption of animal protein and vitamin C was noted among adolescents from rural areas.

Conclusion: Among short girls and boys a frequent occurrence of deficiency of energy and mineral components (calcium, zinc, copper and iron) was found. The irregularly balanced diet could be the cause of a smaller body height in relation to peers among a considerable percentage of the investigated adolescents.