Complementary feeding practices and nutrient intakes of children aged 6–24 months from Bangladeshi background living in Tower Hamlets, East London: a feasibility study

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to assess dietary intakes and complementary feeding practices of children aged 6-24 months who are from Bangladeshi ancestry and living in Tower Hamlets, London, and determine the feasibility of a larger, population-representative study. Methods: Questionnaires for demographic variables and feeding practices, and 24-h dietary recalls were administered to 25 mothers to determine whether it would be feasible to conduct a similar study on a representative sample size of the same population. Data from both tools were used to determine adequacy of complementary feeding practices through the WHO indicators and an infant and child feeding index score as well as overall macronutrient and micronutrient intake. Results: Four children had varying suboptimal complementary feeding practices: two children failed to achieve the minimum dietary diversity, one child was being fed cow's milk before the age of 1 year, and one scored 'poor' on the infant and child feeding index. Most notably, the mean protein intake (39.7 g/day, SD 18.2) was higher than RNIs for all age groups (P = 0.001). Vitamin D intake was below recommendations (P = 0.006) for the 12-24-month age group. For the 10-12-month age group, zinc intake fell below recommendations (P = 0.028). For the 6-9-month combined age group, iron and zinc intakes were below recommendations (P = 0.021 and P = 0.002, respectively). Conclusions: Given the feasibility of this study, the results obtained require a large-scale study to be conducted to confirm findings. Our initial results indicated that children from Bangladeshi heritage may not be meeting nutritional requirements; thus, a future intervention tailored to the needs of the Bangladeshi population may be required to improve aspects of complementary feeding practices and nutrient intakes of those children.

Infant and Child Feeding Index and nutritional status of children aged 6 to 24 months in a Metropolitan city

“…[ 30 31 32 33 34 ] In a feasibility study conducted among Bangladeshi mothers of children aged 6 to 24 months living in London, there was no significant correlation between ICFI categories and maternal education but this finding may be due to the small sample size. [ 35 ] Similar to our study, a study conducted in Nepal among children aged 6 to 23 months shows that growth monitoring of children was associated with the minimum acceptable diet. [ 36 ] This may be due to the fact that growth monitoring of children provides an opportunity for educating mothers regarding good feeding practices.…”

Assessment of Feeding Habits and Nutritional Status of Infants Admitted in Kumba Hospitals (South-West Region, Cameroon)

“…Furthermore, 18.5% of children between 0-3 months, 40.0% of children between 4-6 months, and 51.9% of children above 6 months faced possible risk of overweight. This high percentage of obesity can be associated to the consumption of high energy dense complementary food [38]. The results in Table 6, presented the percentage distribution of weight for height with regards to the socio-economic status of the care givers (Table 5).…”

Formulation of nutrient enriched germinated wheat and mung-bean based weaning food compare to locally available similar products in Bangladesh

“…A good-quality weaning food has balanced protein and calorie contents, adequate vitamins and minerals, and low fiber with a soft texture. A previous study on complementary feeding in London reported that high protein intake at age 6-24 months is positively associated with the proper growth of the children (Jabri et al, 2020). However, in formulated sample Q2, the protein was 27.70 g in 100 g, which was the highest protein content than the other six market available weaning foods.…”