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Updated: Jun 22, 2026
Feeding Experimentation Device (FED): Construction and Validation of an Open-source Device for Measuring Food Intake in Rodents
Published on: February 21, 2017
[Study of establishing feeding index for children aged 6-23 months in rural China]
Yuying Wang1, Chunming Chen, Wu He
1Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100050, China. yywang@ilsichina.org
Insights
The infant and child feeding index (ICFI) positively correlates with nutritional status in rural Chinese children. Improved feeding practices, including dietary diversity and meal frequency, are linked to better growth outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Nutrition
- Child Growth Monitoring
- Public Health Research
Context:
- Childhood malnutrition remains a significant public health concern in rural China.
- Assessing the impact of feeding practices on nutritional status is crucial for targeted interventions.
- Existing nutritional indices may not fully capture the complexities of infant and child feeding in diverse settings.
Purpose:
- To develop and validate an age-specific infant and child feeding index (ICFI) for rural Chinese children aged 6-23 months.
- To examine the associations between the developed ICFI and key nutritional indicators: weight-for-age Z-score (WAZ) and length-for-age Z-score (LAZ).
- To identify specific feeding components contributing to improved child nutritional status.
Summary:
- The study utilized data from the 2005 China rural children nutrition surveillance.
- An age-specific ICFI was created based on breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices.
- Results indicated a significant positive association between ICFI and both LAZ and WAZ, even after adjusting for confounding factors.
Impact:
- The ICFI serves as a valuable tool for assessing the impact of feeding practices on child growth in rural China.
- Findings highlight the importance of dietary diversity, meal frequency, and timely complementary feeding for optimal child nutrition.
- This research can inform public health policies and interventions aimed at improving infant and child feeding practices and nutritional outcomes.
Objective:
Infant and child feeding index was used to examine its associations with nutritional status of children aged 6-23 month in rural China.
Methods:
Data come from China rural children nutrition surveillance in 2005, age-specific infant and child feeding index (ICFI) is developed based on breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices, and the associations between ICFI and weight-for-age (WAZ), length-for-age Z scores (LAZ) were examined.
Results:
The mean of ICFI was 8.61 +/- 2.56, ICFI was positively associated with LAZ in 6 - , 9- and 12 -23 month age group (P <0.01), ICFI was positively associated with WAZ in 9 - and 12-23 month age group (P < 0.05). Adjusted potentially confounding influences, ICFI remained positively association with both LAZ and WAZ (P < 0.01). Among the components of ICFI, dietary diversity, meal frequency and complementary feeding in a week were positively associated with LAZ (P < 0.01), breastfeeding, meal frequency and complementary feeding in a week were positively associated with WAZ (P < 0.05).
Conclusion:
ICFI could be used to assess effect of feeding practices on child growth in rural China.
