Research on Nutritional Dermatoses and Diet Therapy in Primary School Children

Adequate food intake, good health care and enjoyment of various childhood opportunities are prime factors contributing to the growth and development of children. Low socioeconomic status, malnutrition, overcrowding, and poor standards of hygiene are important factors accounting for the distribution of skin diseases in developing countries such as India (November 2003, paediatric dermatology). Though there is development and qualitative excellence in multiple direction, skin diseases are a common problem in school children. Since treatment of skin complaints is often neglected by families, The prevalence of pediatric dermatoses in various parts of India has ranged from 8.7% to 35% (school-based surveys, Jain N, Khandpur S. Pediatric dermatoses in India). Skin disorders in children may result in considerable discomfort, parental anxiety,embarrassment to the child and unnecessary absence from school. Some skin diseases are due to nutritional deficiencies leading to major and minor complications. Though the Nutritional dermatoses prevalence rate is low, so researches on this topic are also rarely found.

Following these considerations this research was conducted in a primary school. Research was done in two phases. Samples are collected deliberately. In the first phase, anthropometric measurement, diet survey and clinical survey leads to the data of nutrients intake in the daily diet, like means and standard deviation of proteins-19±.8, fats12.6±1.4, zinc-2.59±.39, riboflavin-0.68±.1, vit-A-416microgram. These nutrients are really supportive for skin, but the intake was less in the data as compared to revised ICMR-RDA,2010. The diet plan is totally based on locally available food, childrens likes and dislikes, cosideration of malnutrition. After six months in the second phase the report of diet survey was fairly appreciating like the intake of skin healthy nutrients are improved, mean of protein-26±.6,fats-22±1.3, zinc-5.2±.63, B2–0.9±.06, vit-A-510 microgram and recovery of skin problem was noticed to a large extent.