Abstract
Nutrient standards have not been developed for school-aged children in Cambodia, which has led to a lack of basic nutritional education and feeding programs in schools. This article highlights the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for school-aged children in Cambodia, which was developed by the Ministry of Health in 2016 with the participation of representatives from relevant government agencies, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations. Because of the limited amount of data and scientific knowledge specified for Cambodia, this new RDA (CAM-RDA) was based on Southeast Asian RDAs (SEA-RDA) and used extrapolation methods shown in various guidelines such as those of the World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization/United Nations, Japan, or the USA/Canada. First, the Foundation for International Development/Relief (FIDR) conducted a nutritional survey using a 24-h dietary method combined with anthropometric measurements among 2,020 children aged 6–17 years throughout Cambodia between November 2014 and July 2015 (CAM-data). The body weight and height values recorded were much lower than the reference values used in SEA-RDA. Therefore, an estimated ideal weight was determined as the reference value for CAM-RDA; that is, the intermediate value between of the reference value from SEA-RDA and the median value from the CAM-data was set to the reference weight values to calculate the requirements for energy and 19 nutrients in the CAM-RDA. Because an increase in body weight of Cambodian children is expected in the future due to nutrition transition, the reference values should be reviewed. We hope that the CAM-RDA will help in guiding the national nutritional policies in Cambodia.
Highlights
National dietary recommendations or guidelines have been formulated worldwide for education and feeding programs
No recommended dietary allowance (RDA) have been developed for the Kingdom of Cambodia, and the country has relied on the Southeast Asian RDAs (SEA-RDA) [2] or others
156 Yoko Horiuchi et al.: Short Communication: Recommended Dietary Allowance for School-Aged Children in Cambodia formulated using reference weight values based on current data are needed
Summary
National dietary recommendations or guidelines have been formulated worldwide for education and feeding programs. 156 Yoko Horiuchi et al.: Short Communication: Recommended Dietary Allowance for School-Aged Children in Cambodia formulated using reference weight values based on current data are needed. Under these circumstances, the Department of Preventive Medicine, Cambodian Ministry of Health (MoH) has recognized the necessity of creating a set of food-based dietary guidelines for Cambodian school-aged children. The FIDR conducted a nationwide survey to assess the nutritional status and dietary intakes of Cambodian school-aged children. This led to the formulation of a set of RDAs and food-based dietary guidelines for this population. This article aimed to introduce the newly developed RDA for school-aged children in Cambodia (CAM-RDA) [3]
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