Nutritional Education to the Nutritional Maternal Knowledge and Iron Intake among Toddlers with Anemia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: In general, maternal knowledge about nutrition and health affects food habits, influencing the child’s nutritional or iron intake. One effort to improve children’s iron status is by providing maternal nutrition education. AIM: The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of a nutrition education intervention on maternal knowledge and toddlers’ iron intake to prevent anemia among children under five. Paired t-test was used to analyze differences in knowledge, nutrient intake, consumption of iron sources, and hemoglobin (Hb) status of children before and after nutrition education interventions. METHODS: This study was a Quasi Experiment with a one-group pre-posttest design. The subjects of this study were 40 toddlers consisting of two groups, namely, 20 toddlers in the intervention group and 20 toddlers in the control group. Mother’s knowledge about anemia, while nutrient intake, food sources containing iron were analyzed using Paired T-test. RESULTS: The results of this study indicated a significant effect of a nutrition education intervention on improvement of maternal knowledge (p = 0.000), energy intake (p = 0.001), carbohydrates (p = 0.038), fat (0.047), iron (0.031), and consumption of iron food sources including chicken (p = 0.000) and fish (p = 0.005). However, no significant effect was identified on the Hb level of toddlers (p = 0.66). CONCLUSION: Nutrition education intervention significantly affected the mother’s knowledge and toddlers’ iron intake but did not affect the Hb levels of toddlers.