Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016 Aug 19;8(8):509.
doi: 10.3390/nu8080509.

Assessment of the Dietary Intake of Schoolchildren in South Africa: 15 Years after the First National Study

Nelia Steyn  1 , Gabriel Eksteen  2   3 , Marjanne Senekal  4
Affiliations
Review

Assessment of the Dietary Intake of Schoolchildren in South Africa: 15 Years after the First National Study

Nelia Steyn et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

There has not been a national dietary study in children in South Africa since 1999. Fortification of flour and maize meal became mandatory in October 2003 to address micronutrient deficiencies found in the national study in 1999. The purpose of this review was to identify studies done after 1999 in schoolchildren, 6-15 years old, in order to determine whether dietary intakes reflected improvements in micronutrients, namely: iron, zinc, vitamin A, folate, thiamine, riboflavin, vitamin B6, and niacin. An electronic and hand search was done to identify all studies complying with relevant inclusion criteria. The search yielded 10 studies. Overall, there is a paucity of dietary studies which have included the fortified nutrients; only four, of which only one, reported on all micronutrients; making it difficult to determine whether fortification has improved the micronutrient intake of schoolchildren. This is further complicated by the fact that different dietary methods were used and that studies were only done in three of the nine provinces and thus are not generalizable. The results of these studies clearly point to the importance of doing a national study on the dietary intake of schoolchildren in order to confirm the outcomes of the fortification process.

Keywords: South Africa; dietary intake; fortification; micronutrients; schoolchildren.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Map of South Africa showing provinces.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mean iron intake in studies on schoolchildren in South Africa between 2000 and 2015 with the blue bars representing two studies which included fortification values. EAR: estimated average intake; GTN: Gauteng; FS: Free State; NW: North West; NFCS: National Food Consumption Survey.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mean zinc intake in studies on schoolchildren in South Africa between 2000 and 2015 with the blue bars representing two studies which included fortification values. EAR: estimated average intake; GTN: Gauteng; NW: North West; NFCS: National Food Consumption Survey.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Mean vitamin A intake in studies on schoolchildren in South Africa between 2000 and 2015 with the blue bars representing two studies which included fortification values. EAR: estimated average intake; GTN: Gauteng; FS: Free State; NW: North West; NFCS: National Food Consumption Survey.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Mean thiamine intake in studies on schoolchildren in South Africa between 2000 and 2015 with the blue bars representing two studies which included fortification values. EAR: estimated average intake; GTN: Gauteng; FS: Free State; NW: North West; NFCS: National Food Consumption Survey.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Mean vitamin B6 intake in studies on schoolchildren in South Africa between 2000 and 2015 with the blue bars representing two studies which included fortification values. EAR: estimated average intake; GTN: Gauteng; FS: Free State; NW: North West; NFCS: National Food Consumption Survey.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Mean folate intake in studies on schoolchildren in South Africa between 2000 and 2015 with the blue bars representing one study which included fortification values. EAR: estimated average intake; GTN: Gauteng; FS: Free State; NW: North West; NFCS: National Food Consumption Survey.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Mean niacin intake in studies on schoolchildren in South Africa between 2000 and 2015 with the blue bars representing one study which included fortification values. EAR: estimated average intake; GTN: Gauteng; FS: Free State; NW: North West; NFCS: National Food Consumption Survey.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Mean riboflavin intake in studies on schoolchildren in South Africa between 2000 and 2015 with the blue bars representing two studies which included fortification values. EAR: estimated average intake; GTN: Gauteng; FS: Free State; NW: North West; NFCS: National Food Consumption Survey.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Wenhold F., Muehlhoff E., Kruger H.S. Nutrition for school aged children. In: Temple N., Steyn N.P., editors. Community Nutrition for Developing Countries. AU Press, Athabasca University; Edmonton, AB, Canada: UNISA; Pretoria, South Africa: 2015.
    1. Neinstein L.S., Kaufman F.R. Normal physical growth and development. In: Neinstein L.S., editor. Adolescent Health Care: A Practical Guide. 4th ed. Lippincott, Williams, and Wilkins; Philadelphia, PA, USA: 2002. Chapter 1.
    1. Nutrition in Adolescence—Issues and Challenges for the Health Sector. WHO; Geneva, Switzerland: 2005.
    1. De Villiers A., Steyn N.P., Draper C., Fourie J.M., Barkhuizen G., Lombard C.J., Dalais L., Abrahams Z., Lambert E.V. “HealthKick”: Formative assessment of the health environment in low-resource primary schools in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. BMC Public Health. 2012;12:794. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-794. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Temple N.J., Steyn N.P., Myburg N.G., Nel J.H. An evaluation of food consumed in schools in Cape Town, South Africa. Nutrition. 2006;22:252–258. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2005.07.013. - DOI - PubMed