Maternal Nutritional Knowledge and Nutritional Outcome of Children: A Cross-sectional Study from a Developing Country

Objectives: Malnutrition is a state in which a deficiency or excess of nutrients causes adverse effects on the body. Any diet that does not supply a healthy amount of nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and lipids, can cause malnutrition. Malnutrition accounts for half of all childhood deaths worldwide. Pakistan has the second highest infant and child mortality rate in South Asia. Mothers play an important role in providing food and looking after their children; thus, their knowledge has significant importance in their child’s nutritional status and growth outcome. Material and Methods: Maternal nutritional knowledge was assessed using a structured questionnaire, which was divided into multiple sections covering the demographic data, knowledge about various food ingredients, dietary recommendations, and consequences of not following them. Children’s height was measured and plotted on the World Health Organization growth charts for girls and boys under 5 years and the height was measured using Z scores. Data were then analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 23. Chi-square was applied, and a regression analysis was performed. Results: According to the study, the child’s height has a significant association with maternal education (0.008), the mother’s employment (0.04) status, and the area where the child belongs (0.02). Thirty-eight per cent of children have height falling in 3 standard deviation (SD), indicating good height for age. The knowledge score among the mother of the child with good height, that is, 2SD, which is relatively higher than the mother of a child with severe stunting, that is, >−2SD for all the categories of food ingredients, dietary recommendations, and consequences of not following them, Children of educated mothers have good height and physical health. However, the child’s height is not much influenced by specific maternal knowledge of food ingredients, their dietary importance, and daily recommendations. Conclusion: Child growth depends on their mothers’ education, employment, and area of residence but not on their specific knowledge about food. This can highlight the importance of other factors such as genetics, ethnicity, hormonal, metabolism, medical conditions, and environmental factors, in determining a child’s overall height and nutritional status.