Impact of school garden on dietary diversity and micronutrient level of pre-school children in Makueni County –Kenya

Abstract

Pre-school children are more vulnerable to malnutrition. This study sought to assess the effect of school gardens intervention in improving serum zinc, iron, and retinol levels of pre-school children in the early childhood center through diet diversity in Mulala ward, Makueni County, Kenya. A between-group quasi-experimental design study on a sample of 63 children was adopted. The intervention early childhood centres were giving vegetables and animal proteins to children from the school garden as part of the ten o'clock snack of porridge and lunchtime meal of maize and beans for six months while the control early childhood centres had the usual ten o'clock porridge and lunchtime maize and beans meal. Questionnaires were used to collect end line data on demographic, socio-economic, feeding practices, and diet diversity. Blood samples were also collected from the children and blood tests for zinc, iron, and retinol done. Blood tests for serum zinc and iron were analyzed by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry, serum retinol was assessed by High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography. The mean dietary diversity score of the control and intervention groups was found to be significantly different at post-intervention (p-value = <0.001). A significant and positive correlation between the levels of serum hemoglobin, retinol, zinc and dietary diversity was observed among the intervention population (P-value =0.045, n= 31 R=0.363), (P-value =0.033, n= 31 R=0.384), and (P-value =0.048, n= 31 R=0.358). The study concludes that the use of a variety of green leafy vegetables and small animals in diets of young children; can improve both dietary diversity and micronutrient levels.