Nutrition Knowledge and Dietary Intake of Vitamin A and Iron Among Lactating Teenagers in Referral Hospitals in Kisumu County, Kenya
Authors: Wanyonyi Elizabeth , Kamuhu Regina , Kimiywe Judith 
Published: October 2024

Introduction: Vitamin A and iron are essential micronutrients during lactation and deficiencies could have adverse health consequences for lactating teenage mothers. Teenage pregnancy is one of the main health problems in Kisumu County. Teenage pregnancy was singled out as one of the major health issues facing youth in Kisumu County. The teenage population in the county is faced with increased dietary intake of processed foods and rising prices for fresh, nutrient-dense foods. Kenya lacks adolescent-specific data in its National Health Information Management Systems, which makes it difficult to track micronutrient status of teenagers. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the nutrition knowledge and dietary intake and of vitamin A and iron among lactating teenage mothers aged 14-19 years in Kisumu County.
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional analytical study design was adopted, targeting a sample size of 121 mothers with infants aged 0 to 23 months but data was collected on a sample of 104 respondents. Proportionate to size sampling and systematic random sampling were employed to select the intended sample from every hospital. A questionnaire was used to gather information on the maternal demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the mothers. Nutri-Survey software was used to analyze dietary intake data from the 24-hour dietary recall and 7-day food frequency questionnaire. Data for both descriptive and inferential statistics was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. For relationships, chi -square was utilized between categorical variables while Pearson correlation was used for non-categorical variables. In all the analyses, a P-value of ≤ 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: The findings revealed that majority (95.2%) of the teenage mothers were aged between 18 and 19 years. Majority (56.7%) of the mothers were married while 40.4% were single. Majority (95.2%) had one to two children, while 69.2% had attained primary school level of education. About a third (61.5%) of the mothers had inadequate dietary intake of vitamin A which was below the recommended range of 1200mcg per day for the 14-18 years old mothers and 1300mcg for those aged 19 years and above. Almost half (51.9%) of the teenage mothers had inadequate consumption of iron rich foods which was below the recommended range of 10mg/day for age 14 to 18 years and 9 mg/day for those aged 19 years. About a half (48.1%) and (53.2%) of the teenage mothers were found to have moderate nutritional knowledge on vitamin A and iron consumption, respectively. The study revealed that only individual dietary diversity score and household income per month had a positive correlation (P<0.05) with vitamin A and iron intake.
Conclusion: In conclusion, the study has shown that inadequate dietary intake of vitamin A and iron is a health concern among lactating teenagers despite most of them having moderate nutrition knowledge on the micronutrients. Mainly due to low and medium IDDS as influenced by low household income. The researcher recommends that nutritionists and dieticians in the health facilities should apply skills-based interventions that focus on dietary diversity, food preparation and meal selection for lactating teenagers. Similar studies should be done to establish the barriers and enablers of good nutrition status among lactating teenage mothers and best strategies for interventions at community level since there is limited data on this target group.

Key words: Nutrition knowledge, dietary intake, vitamin A, iron, lactating teenagers