A nutritional assessment of children aged 1-3 years in the Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) region of Poland

Introduction
Adequate nutrition is vital in infants and toddlers to ensure optimal development, both somatic and mental. To assess nutrition in children aged 13-36 months (toddlers), living in the Greater Poland region (Wielkopolska), according to their nutritional status and current nutritional recommendations. The relationship between anthropometric parameters (body mass and height) with nutritional status was also investigated in regard to WHO standards.

Material and methods
A questionnaire-based survey was conducted along with an assessment of the daily dietary intake. There were n = 520 toddler subjects, aged 13-36 months, of whom n = 322 were girls and n = 188 were boys. The study was based on the subjects’ present and previous nutritional behaviours in relation to current nutritional norms. Outcomes were also compared with centile charts prepared by the WHO. Data were statistically analysed using the SPSS-IBM software package, adopting p < 0.5 as being statistically significant.

Results
Mothers breast fed their children in 78% of cases; however, such feeding was not exclusive in the first six months of life. Children were started on supplemented diets at various times during this period, at an average of 4.23 months. Overall, our study revealed poor dietary intake of milk, which is rich in unsaturated fatty acids and vitamin D. The dietary balance between vegetables and fruit was inappropriate. Furthermore, daily fluid intakes were quite markedly inadequate. Toddlers’ mainly drank either water or sweetened fizzy/sparkling drinks (soda-pop). According to the centile charts, 15% were underweight, 71% had normal BMIs, 5% were overweight, and 8% were obese.

Conclusions
Promoting breast feeding should be treated as a public health priority because so few mothers exclusively do so in the first six months of their offspring’s life. Nutrition in toddlers aged 13-36 months often differs from the recommended standard models, and thus medical-dietetic advice should always be designed to track and remedy this situation. Toddlers’ diets therefore need to be modified whenever BMIs are abnormal so as to ensure that dietary intake has the required nutrient profiles necessary for adequate nutrition.