Food groups intake in relation to stunting among exceptional children

Although several studies have examined the link between different food groups intake and stunting among children, no study, to our knowledge, was done on exceptional children. The aim of this study was assessed the association of dietary intake and stunting in Iranian exceptional children.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 470 exceptional children (226 mentally retarded, 182 deaf and 62 blind children), aged 5-15 years. Height was measured using standard tool. Stunting was defined as height-for-age z-score of <-1. A validated dietary habit questionnaire was applied to assess dietary intakes.

Mean age of children was 10.02 ± 2.04 years. Stunting was prevalent among 50.6% of children. Compared with children in the lowest category of dairy consumption, those in the highest category had lower odds of stunting. This association remained significant even after adjusting for covariates (OR: 0.50, 95% CI: 0.29-0.87). In addition, moderate consumption of egg (1-3 time/wk) was inversely associated with stunting either before or after controlling for potential confounders (OR: 0.36, 95% CI: 0.21-0.64). Such finding was also seen among mentally retarded children (OR: 0.38, 95% CI: 0.16-0.89). No other significant association was seen between intakes of other food groups (including meat, fruits and vegetables) and stunting.

We found that higher intake of dairy products and egg was associated with lower risk of stunting. However, intakes of other food groups including meat, fruits and vegetables were not significantly related to stunting.