Knowledge of Breakfast, Protein Intake of Breakfast, and Nutritional Status on Primary School Children

Abstract

Nutritional status of children can be influenced by breakfast habits. One factor that influences the consumption of breakfast is knowledge of breakfast. Based on the results of a preliminary survey, 65% of students have less knowledge about the importance of breakfast. The objective of this research was to determine the correlation between knowledge of breakfast with protein intake and nutritional status on elementary school children at Madrasah Ibtida’iyah Muhammadiyah (MIM) Innovative Gonilan Kartasura Sukoharjo Indonesia. This was an observational study with a cross-sectional approach and sample size of 245 children selected by simple random sampling. The knowledge was assessed using a questionnaire containing 20 items with a true or false response. The protein intake was assessed by an interview using a 24-hour food recall form while the nutritional status was obtained using anthropometric measurements and was interpreted by Z-score of body mass index (BMI-for-Age). The correlation test in this study was done by rank Spearman correlation test. The knowledge and protein intake were considered adequate with the respective values of 55.1% and 49.0%, while the nutritional status was classified as normal with the number of 65.3%. There was a correlation between knowledge with protein intake (p=0.032) and nutritional status (p=0.001). It is expected that the school can cooperate with community health centers to conduct nutrition education, especially about the breakfast behavior to improve the nutritional status of primary school students.