school feeding programme in nigeria the nutritional status of pupils in a public primary school in ile-ife, osun state, nigeria学校供餐计划在尼日利亚学生营养状况的一所公立小学在ile-ife osun州,尼日利亚.pdf

Food and Nutrition Sciences, 2012, 3, 596-605 /10.4236/fns.2012.35082 Published Online May 2012 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/fns) School Feeding Programme in Nigeria: The Nutritional Status of Pupils in a Public Primary School in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria 1 1 2 3 1 Olumuyiwa S. Falade , Israel Otemuyiwa , Oluwemimo Oluwasola , Wale Oladipo , Steve A. Adewusi 1Department of Chemistry, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria; 2Department of Agricultural Economics, Obafemi Awo- lowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria; 3Center for Energy Research and Development, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Email: sadewusi@.ng rd rd st Received November 23 , 2011; revised February 23 , 2012; accepted March 1 , 2012 ABSTRACT About 7.3 million children are estimated to be out of school in Nigeria; majority of them are girls. The Federal Gov- ernment school feeding programme is to provide one meal per school day to all primary school pupils in Nigeria with the objectives of improving the health of school age children, increase their enrolment, retention and completion rate in the primary school. The nutritional status of 160 pupils (80 boys and 80 girls) of a selected public primary school in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria was assessed using anthropometric parameters. Meals were collected and analyzed for nu- trient composition and compared to the requirement for their age group. The mid-arm circumference (MAC) ranged between 15 and 21 mm and the body mass index, (BMI) was within the WHO reference standard for healthy children. The crude protein (CP) content of the served foods varied between 12% and 28%. The average intake of amino acids per meal ranged between 122 and 684 mg, vitamins from 0.1 to 0.8 mg while mineral intake varied