Tehran University Medical Journal

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Background: The incidence of riboflavin deficiency is high in women and children in developing countries and the deficiency almost invariably occurs in combination with deficiencies of other water soluble vitamins. The objective of this study was the assessment of riboflavin status of rural school children in Kerman province and its relationship with riboflavin, protein and energy intake.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 327 primary school children were randomly selected by the stratified multistage cluster sampling method. Variables for classifications were sex and socio-economic status (according to the educational level). This study was conducted by the Department of Nutrition and Biochemistry of School of Public Health in Tehran University in the winter of 2001. A twenty-four hour recall questionnaire was completed by and 5 cc of venous blood was taken from each student. Riboflavin status was assessed by measuring the glutathione reductase activity coefficient (EGR – AC) of the red blood cells. Chi-Square and Pearson’s correlation coefficient tests were used to determine correlations. Student’s t–test was used to show the differences in the mean of EGR – AC between the classifications of independent factors.
Results: The relationship between riboflavin status and its independent variables including the status of riboflavin, protein and calorie intake were assessed. Outputs of the study indicated that 39.7% of the boys and 43.6% of the girls (41.8% together) were marginally riboflavin deficient. Furthermore, 37.7% of the boys, 33.4% of the girls (35.4% together) were frankly riboflavin deficient. An average of 67.2% of the children (70.1% boys, 63.7% girls) had enough intake of riboflavin, and 76.2% of the children (79.9%, boys, 72.5% girls) had adequate intake of protein. However, only 22% of the children (24.5% boys, 19.3% girls) had sufficient caloric intake. Outputs of this dietary evaluation reveal that there is a relationship between riboflavin status and protein intake status (P<0.05).
Conclusion: This study shows that riboflavin deficiency is an important problem for the rural school children of Kerman province and the level of protein intake is an important factor affecting riboflavin status in these children.

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Background: Food security is defined as access, for all people at all times, to enough food for an active and healthy life. Food security includes: 1) the ready availability of nutritionally-adequate and safe food, and 2) an assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways. The increase in childhood as well as adulthood obesity and food insecurity has caused many recent investigations on obesity, food insecurity and some associated factors. However, there appears to be a lack of published information regarding some factors affecting obesity and food insecurity. This study aimed to determine the prevalence obesity and food insecurity and some associated factors among Yazd province primary school students in Iran.

Methods: Using two-stage cluster sampling, a total of 3245 students (1587 boys and 1658 girls), aged 9-11 years, were randomly selected from primary school pupils in Yazd, Iran. From these, 187 students having BMIs ≥95^th percentile, as defined by Hosseini et al. (1999), were identified as obese and 187 pupils of the same age and gender having BMIs between the 15^th and 85^th percentiles were selected as controls. Data were collected using 24-hour food-recall and USDA food insecurity questionnaires.

Results: We found that the prevalence of obesity among students aged 9-11 years was 13.3%, and the prevalence of food insecurity was 30.5%. Daily energy intakes, compared to those recommended by the RDA, carbohydrate intake and energy percentages from proteins and carbohydrates were higher in obese children, and all macronutrient intakes per kilogram of body weight were significantly higher. An association between obesity and food insecurity was observed with adjusted fat intake.

Conclusion: In conclusion, the prevalence of obesity and food insecurity is high among Yazd primary school students, and high-level intakes of energy, protein, carbohydrate are associated with obesity. Furthermore, variation in the rate of fat intake is a relative factor for food insecurity.