The Association of Balanced Nutrition Practices with Stunting Among Adolescent Girls in School

Long-term inadequate intake of balanced nutrition can cause stunting. In West Sulawesi, the prevalence of stunting among girls is substantially high (38.1%) and very limited study in exploring the association between balanced nutrition practice with stunting among girls. This study aims to investigate the association of balanced nutrition practices with stunting among school girls. The cross-sectional study design was conducted in 4 senior high schools in Mamuju District. All girls from 4 schools (455 students) have participated in this study. Balanced diet practice data were collected by using questionnaire, while body height measured by microtoice (d = 0.1 cm). Data were analyzed was using the chi-square test. There were 34.1% adolescent girls classified as stunting, and have poor balanced diet practice was 21.5%. Adolescent girls who have poor balanced nutrition practices are even more stunted (44.9%) than those who have good practices (31.1%). Some foods as sources of protein, calcium, zinc, and iron such as milk (49.7%), beef (92.3%), chicken (60%), cheese (79.4%), nut (58.7%), and fruit (47.3%) were never and seldom consumed by some girls. Most of them do sport only one to two days a week (58.5%), while 89.1% of girls’ student never and seldom monitoring body weight every month. There was an association between poor balanced diet practice with stunting in adolescent girls (p = 0.012). Poorly balanced diet practice influence of stunting in adolescent girls. The intervention by educating adolescent girls in school-related balance nutrition practice is urgently needed.