Abstract
Milk is one of the most nutritious drinks. Chemical agents are frequently added in fresh cattle milk for different purposes including preservation, viscosity and flavor. A research study was conducted in District Peshawar -Pakistan to investigate contributing role of chemical adulterants in fresh milk on nutrition status of under five year children. Total of 203 households, having under 5 years children (free from any chronic disease) were randomly selected. Fresh milk samples were randomly collected from the households and tested for the presence of chemical adulterants. Children's nutritional statuses were assessed taking measurements on weight, height / length, and mid upper arm circumference (MUAC). Children nutritional statuses were assessed comparing their anthropometric measurements with WHO growth standards. Other relevant data i.e. child feeding history, fresh milk consumption by children, medical history, and socioeconomic status of children families were collected interviewing heads of households. Data were analyzed in SPSS software; multiple regression models were used to estimate association between milk adulteration and children nutrition status. Chemical adulterants including formaldehyde, boric acid, urea and hydrogen per oxide were found in total of 77 (38%) milk samples. Children in the adulterated group (consumed adulterated milk > 6 month) had significantly lower body weight, MAUAC and weight-for-age z-score (WAZ) comparing with those in the non-adulterated group (p<0.05). Consumption of adulterated milk was among the risk factors for poor nutritional status identified through multivariate regression. It was concluded that consumption of adulterated milk contributed significantly to the poor nutritional statues of under 5 years children living in the study areas.
Highlights
Milk is universally considered as complete diet for children as it encompasses essential nutrients [1] that are highly bioavailable to the human body [2]
Milk samples were mostly collected during summer season, this high chemical adulteration might be due to seasonal effect; these findings indicate frequent and higher rate of misuse of chemicals as adulterants in the study area
No statistical differences were found between the groups for mean age, mid upper arm circumference (MUAC), length/height, Height-for-Age Z-score (HAZ), Weight-for-Height Z-score (WHZ) and MUAC-for -Age Z-score (MUACAZ); means weight, MUAC and Weight- for-Age Z-score (WAZ) of the non-adulterated group were significantly higher than the rest (p
Summary
Milk is universally considered as complete diet for children as it encompasses essential nutrients [1] that are highly bioavailable to the human body [2]. Several adult rents are added to fresh cattle milk for various purposes: milk powder and starch are added to improve its viscosity; water is added to enhance its volume; to increase its shelf life, ice and certain chemicals like hydrogen per oxide, carbonates, urea, bicarbonates, antibiotics, formalin and detergents are supplemented. These chemicals are added for different purposes: detergents are added to milk to compensate for the reduction in the foaming nature of fresh milk, caused by the addition of water to it. Various reports on quality and adulteration in fresh milk in Pakistan have been published, indicating that chemical agents are frequently added in fresh milk for different purposes including preservation, viscosity and flavor [12 16]. As milk is a major ingredient of various child foods including weaning and complimentary feeds, keeping in view the importance of this issue, current project was designed to fill the existing gap in research on contributing role of chemical adulterants in milk on nutrition status of children under five year
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