FOOD INSECURITY AND MICRONUTRIENT DEFICIENCIES AMONG IN-SCHOOL ADOLESCENTS IN SABON GARI, ZARIA, KADUNA, A PERI-URBAN SETTLEMENT IN NIGERIA
Abstract
Adolescence is characterized by fast pubertal changes and high nutrient needs which are often unmet due to household food insecurity. The prevalence of household food insecurity among in-school adolescents in a peri-urban settlement in Nigeria and its impact on micronutrient deficiencies was determined. Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) questionnaire was used to assess household food insecurity. Zinc, iron, vitamin A, and calcium concentrations were determined. Results were analysed using the EXCEL spreadsheet and presented as percentages and frequencies except where otherwise stated. The study revealed that most in-school adolescents are predominantly males (57.52%) of 16.18±1.75 average age and from households with limited social and economic resources. Eighty-seven percent of the adolescents from households with moderate (76.99%) to large (13.27%) sizes and monthly income below $75 have both the head of household and caregiver with limited educational attainment. Boreholes were the primary drinking water source (66.37%) for the households. About 83.3% of the households experience varied degrees of food insecurity while <30% of adolescents met their recommended dietary diversity. The anthropometric indices, BMI-for-age and Height-for-age z-scores revealed high prevalence of thinness (61.06%) and stunting (57.52%). The mean iron level was significantly (p=0.042) lower than the normal range. The frequency distribution shows iron (95.3%), zinc (54.7%), calcium (33.3%) and vitamin A (40.0%) deficiencies in the adolescents. Our results suggest that large household sizes result in adolescent food insecurity, below normal micronutrient levels, and dietary diversity in the study area, a peri-urban settlement in Northwest, Nigeria.
References
Adeomi, A. A., Fatusi, A., & Klipstein-grobusch, K. (2022). Food security, dietary diversity, dietary patterns and the double burden of malnutrition among school-aged children and adolescents in two Nigerian States. Nutrients, 14(789), 115. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14040789
Adeyanju, O., Tubeuf, S., & Ensor, T. (2017). Socio-economic inequalities in access to maternal and child healthcare in Nigeria: Changes over time and decomposition analysis. In Health Policy and Planning (Vol. 32, Issue 8). https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czx049 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czx049
Ahmad, D. (2020). Flood hazards , human displacement and food insecurity in rural riverine areas of Punjab , Pakistan: policy implications. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 115. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11430-7
Ahmed, T., Hossain, M., & Sanin, K. I. (2012). Global burden of maternal and child undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, 61(suppl 1), 817. https://doi.org/10.1159/000345165 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1159/000345165
Awasthi, S., Kumar, D., Mahdi, A. A., Agarwal, G. G., Pandey, A. K., Parveen, H., Singh, S., Awasthi, R., Pande, H., Anish, T. S., Mahanta, B. N., Singh, C. M., Mathew, J. L., Ahmad, M. K., Singh, K., Bhat, M. A., Somashekar, A. R., Kar, S., & Nair, S. (2022). Prevalence of specific micronutrient deficiencies in urban school going children and adolescence of India: A multicenter cross-sectional study. PLoS ONE, 17(5 May), 115. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0267003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0267003
Boliko, M. C. (2019). FAO and the situation of food security and nutrition in the world. Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology, 65, S4S8. https://doi.org/10.3177/jnsv.65.S4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3177/jnsv.65.S4
Christian, P., & Smith, E. R. (2018). Adolescent undernutrition: Global burden, physiology, and nutritional risks. Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, 72(4), 316328. https://doi.org/10.1159/000488865 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1159/000488865
Coates, J., Swindale, A., & Bilinsky, P. (2007). Household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS) for measurement of food access: Indicator guide (v. 3). Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance III Project (FANTA)/ FHI 360, August, Version 3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/e576842013-001
Corsi, D. J., Kyu, H. H., & Subramanian, S. V. (2011). Socioeconomic and geographic patterning of under- and overnutrition among women in Bangladesh. Journal of Nutrition, 141(4), 631638. https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.110.131599 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.110.131599
Demeke, M., Kariuki, J., & Wanjiru, M. (2020). Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on food and nutrition security and adequacy of responses in Kenya. In Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (Issue May).
Ersado, T. L. (2010). Causes of malnutrition. In Intech Open Publication (Vol. 34, Issue 8, pp. 5767).
Food Agriculture Organisation, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, & African Union Commission. (2023). Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition Statistics and Trends. In Accra, FAO.
Gmez, G., Previdelli, . N., Fisberg, R. M., Kovalskys, I., Fisberg, M., Herrera-Cuenca, M., Sanabria, L. Y. C., Garca, M. C. Y., Rigotti, A., Liria-Domnguez, M. R., Guajardo, V., Quesada, D., Murillo, A. G., & Brenes, J. C. (2020). Dietary diversity and micronutrients adequacy in women of childbearing age: Results from elans study. Nutrients, 12(7), 116. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12071994 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12071994
Gupta, S., Brazier, A. K. M., & Lowe, N. M. (2020). Zinc deficiency in low- and middle-income countries: Prevalence and approaches for mitigation. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 33(5), 624643. https://doi.org/10.1111/jhn.12791 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jhn.12791
Ibukun, C. O., & Adebayo, A. A. (2021). Household food security and the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. African Development Review, 33(S1), S75S87. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8268.12515 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8268.12515
Kawade, R. (2012). Zinc status and its association with the health of adolescents: A review of studies in India. Global Health Action, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.3402/gha.v5i0.7353 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3402/gha.v5i0.7353
Keats, E. C., Rappaport, A. I., Shah, S., Oh, C., Jain, R., & Bhutta, Z. A. (2018). The dietary intake and practices of adolescent girls in low-and middle-income countries: A systematic review. Nutrients, 10(12). https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10121978 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10121978
Laborde, D., Herforth, A., Headey, D., & de Pee, S. (2021). COVID-19 pandemic leads to greater depth of unaffordability of healthy and nutrient-adequate diets in low- and middle-income countries. Nature Food, 2(7), 473475. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00323-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00323-8
Lal, R. (2020). Home gardening and urban agriculture for advancing food and nutritional security in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Food Security, 12(4), 871876. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-020-01058-3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-020-01058-3
Mazur, R. E., Marquis, G. S., & Jensen, H. H. (2003). Diet and food insufficiency among Hispanic youths: Acculturation and socioeconomic factors in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 78(6), 11201127. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/78.6.1120 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/78.6.1120
Nnakwe, N., & Onyemaobi, G. (2013). Prevalence of food insecurity and inadequate dietary pattern among households with and without children in Imo State Nigeria. International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 5(9), 402408. https://doi.org/10.5897/ijsa2013.0486 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5897/IJSA2013.0486
Norris, S. A., Frongillo, E. A., Black, M. M., Dong, Y., Fall, C., Lampl, M., Liese, A. D., Naguib, M., Prentice, A., Rochat, T., Stephensen, C. B., Tinago, C. B., Ward, K. A., Wrottesley, S. V., & Patton, G. C. (2022). Nutrition in adolescent growth and development. The Lancet, 399(10320), 172184. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01590-7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01590-7
Oladosu Gbenga, S., Amoda Oyefunmilayo, S., Olajide Bolanle, R., John Ebenezer, P., & Onabanjo Oluseye, O. (2022). Nutritional status and micronutrients adequacy of food consumed by adolescents in school in Abeokuta. Nigerian Journal of Nutritional Sciences, 43(2), 228237.
Premium Times. (2021). 27.4 million Nigerians earn less than N100, 000 yearly Report. Agency Report.
Pullakhandam, R., Agrawal, P. K., Peter, R., Ghosh, S., Reddy, G. B., Kulkarni, B., Thomas, T., Kurpad, A. V., Sachdev, H. S., Porwal, A., Khan, N., Ramesh, S., Acharya, R., Sarna, A., Kapil, U., Rajkumar, H., De Wagt, A., Deb, S., & Johnston, R. (2021). Prevalence of low serum zinc concentrations in Indian children and adolescents: Findings from the comprehensive national nutrition survey 2016-18. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 114(2), 638648. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqab066 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqab066
Saxena, A. (2017). The impact of nutrition on the overall quality of life adolescent girls are living across the city of Kota. International Journal of Life Sciences, 1(1), 3541. https://doi.org/10.21744/ijls.v1i1.21 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21744/ijls.v1i1.21
Shenka, A., Damena, M., Abdo, M., & Roba, K. T. (2018). Dietary diversity and nutritional status of pregnant women attending public hospitals in Dire Dawa city administration, Eastern Ethiopia. In East African Journal of Health and Biomedical Sciences (Vol. 2, Issue 1).
Wossen, T., Berger, T., Haile, M. G., & Troost, C. (2018). Impacts of climate variability and food price volatility on household income and food security of farm households in East and West Africa. Agricultural Systems, 163, 715. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2017.02.006 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2017.02.006
Wu, Y., Ye, H., Liu, J., Ma, Q., Yuan, Y., Pang, Q., Liu, J., Kong, C., & Liu, M. (2020). Prevalence of anemia and sociodemographic characteristics among pregnant and non-pregnant women in southwest China: A longitudinal observational study. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-020-03222-1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-020-03222-1
Yusuf, T., Jibrin, B., Mohammed, A. H., & Adamu, A. (2021). Prevalence and pattern of adolescent malnutrition in a community in Sokoto, Northwestern Nigeria. Caliphate Medical Journal, 9(1), 527531. https://doi.org/10.47837/cmj.202191.4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.47837/CMJ.202191.4
Copyright (c) 2025 FUDMA JOURNAL OF SCIENCES
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
FUDMA Journal of Sciences
