Short Communication: Recommended Dietary Allowance for School-Aged Children in Cambodia

Abstract

Nutrient standards have not been developed for school-aged children in Cambodia, which has led to a lack of basic nutritional education and feeding programs in schools. This article highlights the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for school-aged children in Cambodia, which was developed by the Ministry of Health in 2016 with the participation of representatives from relevant government agencies, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations. Because of the limited amount of data and scientific knowledge specified for Cambodia, this new RDA (CAM-RDA) was based on Southeast Asian RDAs (SEA-RDA) and used extrapolation methods shown in various guidelines such as those of the World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization/United Nations, Japan, or the USA/Canada. First, the Foundation for International Development/Relief (FIDR) conducted a nutritional survey using a 24-h dietary method combined with anthropometric measurements among 2,020 children aged 6–17 years throughout Cambodia between November 2014 and July 2015 (CAM-data). The body weight and height values recorded were much lower than the reference values used in SEA-RDA. Therefore, an estimated ideal weight was determined as the reference value for CAM-RDA; that is, the intermediate value between of the reference value from SEA-RDA and the median value from the CAM-data was set to the reference weight values to calculate the requirements for energy and 19 nutrients in the CAM-RDA. Because an increase in body weight of Cambodian children is expected in the future due to nutrition transition, the reference values should be reviewed. We hope that the CAM-RDA will help in guiding the national nutritional policies in Cambodia.