Seguridad alimentaria y estado nutricional en niños de los Centros de Desarrollo Infantil del MIES de la ciudad de Loja

Objective: To determine food security and nutritional status in children attending the Child Development Centers of MIES in the city of Loja, during the period from October 2022 to March 2023. Methodology: A quantitative, descriptive, and cross-sectional approach was used. The study involved 367 participants. The food security scale and dietary quality test were applied to parents, and the children's weight and length/height were measured. Results: Only 13.08% of households were food secure, while the remainder experienced food insecurity, with mild food insecurity being the most prevalent at 50.68%. The most representative level of dietary quality was optimal, accounting for 50.95%. Regarding nutritional status based on the weight-for-length/height indicator, 91.01% of children had an adequate nutritional status, 7.08% were at risk of overweight, 1.36% were overweight, and 0.54% presented moderate acute malnutrition. According to length/height-for-age, 83.92% had normal stature, 14.44% had low stature, and 1.63% had severely low stature. A statistically significant relationship was found between food security and nutritional status using the chi-square test (p-value = 0.037). Conclusion: This study confirmed that most children live in households with food insecurity, although the majority have an adequate nutritional status. Despite the significant relationship between these variables, malnutrition due to food insecurity was evident only in certain cases.