Dietary intakes of Karen hill tribe children aged 1-6 years in northern Thailand

Malnutrition results from insufficient intakes of food including micronutrients such as vitamin A, iron, iodine, zinc, and folic acid. This paper reported the results from a study of dietary intakes of Karen hill tribe children aged 1-6 years in the north of Thailand. All children aged 1-6 years (n=158; 83 boys, 75 girls) from the three Karen villages (Mae Hae Tai, Mae Yot, Mae Raek) of Mae Chaem district in the north of Thailand were studied. All children were examined by a qualified medical doctor and were assessed for their nutrient intakes using 24 hours dietary recall. All families had income lower than the Thailand poverty line (US $ 1000/year). For children aged 1-3 years, the nutrients generally consumed were much less than the Thai RDA. Compared with the Thai RDA, all children consumed much less energy (28%-40.5% RDA) than protein (55.8%-96.1% RDA). Interestingly, all boys and only girls from Mae Raek village consumed vitamin A more than the Thai RDA but girls from Mae Hae Tai village and Mae Yot village consumed vitamin A less than the Thai RDA. For children aged 4-6 years, boys from Mae Raek village consumed protein (128.4% RDA) and vitamin C (143.1% RDA) above the Thai RDA. Girls from Mae Yot village also consumed vitamin C (132.9% RDA) above the Thai RDA. Both boys and girls from Mae Raek village and girls from Mae Yot village consumed vitamin A more than the Thai RDA. Other nutrients were consumed much less than the Thai RDA by all children. All children consumed protein more than 10% of the total energy consumption per day. Most of the energy consumed by children came from carbohydrate. Nearly all children consumed carbohydrate more than 50% of the total energy consumption per day except boys aged 1-3 years from Mae Raek village (consumed 45%). All children from Mae Hae Tai village and boys aged 4-6 years from Mae Yot village (consumed 27%) consumed fat less than 30% of the total energy consumption per day. It appeared that the priority recommendations for improving nutrition in Karen villages in Mae Chaem would be increase energy consumption such as fat and oil. More general work is needed on how children’s diets might be improved in a culturally acceptable manner, so as to bring comsumption patterns closer to recommended allowance levels.

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