Abstract

BACKGROUND: Child malnutrition is an important public health problem in developing, as well as developed countries. METHODS: In the present research, the population consisted of 320 elementary school students in Shiraz, Iran. The presence of malnutrition was diagnosed using the height- and BMI-for-age z-scores. FFQ was applied to examine dietary intake, and factor analysis was performed to identify major dietary patterns. SES was evaluated using parents' educational level and occupational status. RESULTS: Fifty-one percent of the subjects were females. Mean age of the children was 10.3 +/- 1.04 years. The prevalence of malnutrition was 7.5. Three major dietary patterns were identified: "Snack," "starchy," and "prudent." Malnutrition had a positive relationship with the "snack" food pattern, and a negative relationship with "prudent" food pattern. Calcium, zinc, iron and vitamin B-2 intakes were lower in children with malnutrition. SES was positively associated with the "prudent" food pattern. Mean servings of dairy product per day was higher in subjects with high scores for the prudent pattern. In addition, mean servings of grain and fruit was higher in subjects with high scores for the starchy food pattern. Based on findings, the lowest mean servings of fruits and dairy products were reported in subjects with high snack food pattern scores. CONCLUSIONS: "Prudent" and "snack" dietary patterns showed significant negative and positive associations respectively with the prevalence of malnutrition. Overall, the present research is the first study showing the correlation of snack dietary pattern with malnutrition. Therefore, further studies should be performed to substantiate the reported results.