Dietary Practices and Nutrition Status of Children Aged 6–59 Months in Kajiado Central, Kenya

Abstract

Abstract Nutrition status reflects a child’s health as influenced by nutrient intake, absorption, and utilization. In Kajiado Central Sub-County, Kenya, optimal nutrition remains a challenge despite interventions being put in place. This study examined how dietary practices determine the nutrition status of children aged 6–59 months. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted using multistage random sampling across rural and urban households. Data were collected via semi-structured questionnaires. Nutrition indicators were computed using WHO Anthro and statisticaal analyses were performed in SPSS v26. Ethical clearance was obtained (KUREC: 11024; NACOSTI: 964871) as well as informed consent. Caregivers had a mean age of 28.6 years; most of whom were female (97%), married (78.3%), unemployed (61.1%), and earned KES 13,833/month. Only 48% had secondary education, and 83.3% scored ≥81% in nutrition knowledge. Continued breastfeeding, Minimum Meal Frequency (MMF), Minimum Dietary Diversity (MDD), and Minimum Acceptable Diet (MAD) were based on WHO IYCF indicators for children 6-23 months. For children above 24 months, higher meal frequency and food group consumption were analyzed in relation to nutrition status. Breastfeeding rates were high at one year (86%) but dropped to 56% by age two. MMF was met by 17.7% of children and MAD by only 4.5%. Majority of the children (6-59 months) consumed foods from less than 5 food groups (69.7%). Of the children, 24-59 months majority consumed only 3 meals (56.6%). Diets consisted mostly of cereals (91%) with limited fruits/vegetables. Anthropometric data showed 5.5% wasting, 6.6% underweight, 21.3% stunting, 4.5% overweight, and 2.5% obesity. Continued breastfeeding (χ² = 7.97, p = 0.019), MMF (χ² = 18.35, p = 0.019), and MAD (χ² = 6.54, p = 0.011) were associated with HAZ, WHZ, and WAZ respectively. Meal frequency of children above 24 months positively correlated with HAZ (r = 0.216, p = 0.013) and WAZ (r = 0.254, p = 0.003). These results highlight the poor dietary practices of children 6-59 months in Kajiado Central. Further longitudinal research is needed to assess the association of the significant factors with nutrition status over a long period of time. All dietary determinants found to be significantly associated in the initial analysis were further examined using both unadjusted and adjusted regression models; however, none remained statistically significant upon adjustment.