This study assessed the nutritional status using anthropometry of 1-4 year old children in an urban slum in the Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos State, with a view to determining the impact of urbanization on child health. A total of 365 children were enrolled using multistage random sampling techniques. Anthropometric measurements used were weight and height. Height-for-age, weight-for-height, and weight-for-age Z-scores below -2.00 SD of the reference NCHS standard were used to define stunting, wasting and underweight, respectively. The study revealed a prevalence of underweight of 39.2%, stunting of 34.5% and wasting of 21.9%. The mean of weight-for-age, height-for-age, weight-for-height and mid-upper-arm-circumference were less than the mean of the NCHS reference population. This difference might be due to the socio economic backgrounds of the two populations. Using the modified Wellcome Classification of malnutrition, 37.8% of the children were malnourished. Most subjects came from homes with inadequate water supply and poor refuse disposal methods.

This study of inter-relationship between life styles and diabetes mellitus, overweight/obesity and hypertension was carried out to determine the life styles of the bank workers and the nutritional related diseases. A total sample of 570 was systematically drawn from workers of the United Bank for Africa Plc in Lagos for this study, with the following results. Not surprisingly the level of education influenced life style (P<0.05). There was also a statistically significant relationship between life style and the consumption of alcohol and diabetes, but no relationship was found between smoking and diabetes. There was a significant correlation with their consumption of fatty foods and vegetables. A relationship between increased protein intake and an increase in educational status (P<0.05) was found. There was association between obesity and hypertension (P<0.05), and between increase in frequency of clinic visitation and hypertension which was statistically significant (Chi square P<.05).

This cross sectional study was carried out to compare the nutritional status of public primary school children in an upland and a riverine area of Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling method was used to select a total of 240 children, 120 from each of the two areas. The study population for each area had an equal sex distribution (60 boys and 60 girls). Dietary, anthropometric, clinical and laboratory methods were employed. Using the National Centre for Health Statistics (NCHS/WHO) Reference values, a malnutrition prevalence of 20.8 and 30.81 for the upland and riverine populations respectively was found. There was a stunting in 15.8% of upland and 30.0% of riverine children; 3.3% and 1.7% of them were wasted, and 14.2% in the upland and 18.3% in the rural area were underweight. The mean weights and heights for boys and girls of different ages were lower for the riverine group, although no statistically significant differences were found. Anaemia occurred among 25.0% and 29.2% of the upland and riverine groups respectively. Intestinal helminth infection was found to be significantly associated with malnutrition. Ascaris had a prevalence of 46.7% in the upland and 63.3% in the riverine area. Trichuris had a prevalence of 15.0% and 19.2% in the upland and riverine area respectively. To address the malnutrition problem in these populations, efforts should be aimed at increasing food availability and quality, personal and environmental hygiene, supply of basic amenities, prevention and treatment of infection, and general living conditions of these populations.

A study on the effects of urbanization on the nutritional status of primary school children aged 5-10 years was carried out in Lagos. A total of 328 children and their parents were studied with the aid of a questionnaire, anthropometric measurements of weights and heights and stool microscopy. The study revealed a prevalence of protein energy malnutrition (PEM) among the children to be 37.9%. 125 (38.2%) of them were found to have weight-for-height below -2SD (standard deviation) signifying wasting, while another 133 (40.5%) had a height-for-age below -2SD, indicating the level of stunting among the children. Most of the malnourished children 125 (60.7%) were found to belong to mothers with a maximum of primary school education and 73 (52.5%) were from mothers who were skilled workers. There was a preponderance of malnourished children from single parents. All the children (100%) from single parents were found to be clinically malnourished. And 280 (84.9%) of all children examined had ova and cyst of intestinal parasites (Ascaris, Tricuris, Amoeba, etc.) in their stools. And finally, most children 223 (67.7%) spent less than 6 hours contact time with their parents per day.

This was a cross sectional survey of selected sample of staff of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Lagos, conducted in July to August, 2000. Feeding patterns observed among the sampled population showed that most (74.4%) ate three meals while 11.2% ate more than three meals daily. However, lunch was the most common meal eaten away from home by most (59.0%) of the respondents. Most of the respondents were observed to substitute snacks for their lunch (84.3%). Their food consumption pattern revealed that 23.2% consumed cereals daily while only 5.6% of the respondents consumed fruits and only 10.9% affirmed to consuming vegetables daily. Consumption pattern of other foods revealed that 15.6% consumed dairy products daily, meat/fish was daily consumed by only 16.2% and only 10.0% consumed fats and oils daily in the meals. Gender was also observed to influence feeding patterns of the sampled population studied. Most of the men consumed more meals per day than females. Only 46.4% of all the respondents had BMI values within normal acceptable range. Most of the respondents that were underweight were men (91.4%). Blood pressure measurements revealed that most of them had normal systolic (78.3%) and diastolic blood pressure (81.8%). Though 3.9% had severely high systolic blood pressure and 0.7% had severely high diastolic blood pressure. Only 20.5% of the study population had acceptable blood cholesterol levels of which only 61.1% had BMI values within the normal acceptable range. Only 0.8% of the study population had very high blood cholesterol levels with majority of the population 72.7% on the borderline. It is recommended that health and nutrition education be mounted and that periodic anthropometric measurements be used to evaluate the risk of some non-communicable diseases.