A Study of Impact of Nutrition on Targeted Height among Adolescent Girls

Background: Adolescence is a time of rapid physical growth and second only to the first year after birth during whichchildren gainupto 50%of adult weight and more than 20% of adult height.Somatic growth can be altered by providing optimal nutrition, modifying eating patternsand behaviour. Further it can be a second opportunity to catch up growth with requirements of nutrients being high. The overall nutrition status is very poor among adolescent girls of poor rural groups.So short stature is common. Maternal stunting is a factor of increased risk and it can be attributed to chronic malnutrition. Nutritional intervention during this period can help the adolescent girl to achieve the targeted height to some extent. Objective: To study the impact of nutrition on the height of adolescent girls aged 10-18 years who are short statured due to nutritional deprivation. Method: A total of 128 adolescent girls between ages 10-18 years who were below 2SD height for age and nutritionally deprived were selected and divided into two groups’ controls and cases with 64 in each group. Nutritional intervention in the form of balanced diet with iron supplementation and deworming was given to control group and case group was provided with above diet, iron and in addition micronutrients like zinc,calcium, vitamin D, vitamin A and B-complex vitamins and milk. Both groups were followed for one year with monthly checkups and data analyzed. Results: Nutritional intervention in this study showed a significant increase in height of both groups. Themean height attained in the control group was 6.83cms/year and 7.97cms/year in the test group. When compared with the control group, test group had an additional increase in height of 1.14cms which is statistically significant (p<0.001). Conclusion: Adequate nutrition and micronutrient supplementation of the diet of adolescent girls who are short statured and nutrionally deprived can cause a significant catch up growth in height and improve their general condition.