Food Intake of Rural School Going Boys and Girls of Haryana, India: A Comparative Study

The present study was conducted to determine food intake of 100 rural school going boys and girls (10–12 years) selected randomly from the two villages namely Khabra Kalan and Jandwala Baggar of Fatehabad district, Haryana, India. Food intake of children was assessed using methods of dietary survey (24 hr recall method). Among cereals wheat was consumed daily by all of the respondents as it was main cereal in the study area. About 50 per cent of the children's families were consuming consumed bengal gram (48%) and green gram (53%) on weekly basis, black gram was consumed on fortnightly basis by 49 per cent of families while red gram (43%), lentil (38%) and soyabean (41%) were consumed rarely by most of respondents. The mean daily cereal intake of the school boys was 63.04 per cent of RDI and girls was 63.29 per cent of RDI. Most of the respondents i.e., 51 and 29 per cent consumed fruits less than 50 per cent of RDI and 50 to 74.9 per cent of RDI, respectively. The mean daily intake of cereals, pulses, fats and oils, milk and milk products, green leafy vegetables, other vegetables, roots and tubers, sugar and jaggery and fruits by rural school going children was found to be lower than RDI and this may be due to lower agricultural production, low availability, lack of knowledge, higher price and low purchasing power of the respondents’ families.