Perceptions on malnutrition among Puntalinao National High School Students"

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A Practical Research

Presented to the faculty of the Senior High School

In Puntalinao National High School

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Sacayan, Honey Fe

Asari, Mohaimen

November 2019
 CHAPTER I

Introduction

In developing countries, millions of children suffer from poor nutrition. There is now a large and

increasing evidence to indicate that poor nutrition affects children’s cognitive motor and behavior

development both pre and post-natal. The situation is further complicated in that children who suffer

from poor nutrition usually come from poor socio-cultural environment, and suffers from myriad of

deprivation and disadvantages that could themselves be detrimental to intellectual and behavioral

development. It is upon this fact, that the researcher found it necessary to be involved in such an

important part of the child’s development. No one is in doubt that the rate at which children under the

ages of fifteen (15) years suffer is of course an issue of national urgency.

In the school of Puntalinao National High School is among the school with many malnourished

students that needed to emphasize their health, because children who have low weight are often more

likely to develop diseases and other viruses. The poor body has many causes due to the environment,

living standards and eating habits, so we need to take care of our health because it is important to have

a healthy body and healthy lifestyle. In revaluating the effect of poor nutrition on a child’s development,

the researcher traditionally focusses on motor and cognitive development. In revaluating the effect of

poor nutrition on a child’s development, the researcher traditionally focusses on motor and cognitive

development. However, it is critical to evaluate social and emotional development as well, because these

factors may be equally if too important to an individual’s success in life.

Malnutrition is a serious condition that occurs when a person's diet does not contain enough

nutrients to meet the demands of their body. This can affect growth, physical health, mood, behavior

and many of the functions of the body. You can also become malnourished if your diet does not contain

the right balance of nutrients. It is possible to eat a diet high in calories but containing few vitamins and
minerals. This means you can become malnourished, even though you might also be overweight or

obese. Being malnourished does not always mean that you are skinny.

Statement of the Problem

Malnutrition among students of Puntalinao National High School has become a serious

problem at school affecting their academic performance. The study aims to discuss the: (a)

Reason of poor nutrition (b) Effects of malnutrition to their academic performance.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to find out the following:

1. To examine the causes of poor nutrition in Puntalinao National High School.

2. To examine the effect of poor nutrition on children who are malnourished.

3. To examine the relationship between anti-natal and post-natal nutrition.

4. To examine the academic performance of children suffering from poor nutrition.

Significance of the Study

This study helps to determine the importance of having a healthy lifestyle and the effects of

having a malnutrition to the academic performance of students in Puntalinao National High School. The

benefits that could be derived from the outcome of the research work are as follows:

1. It will provide useful information to parents on how best to provide the necessary nutrition to their

children.
2. Identification of the causes of poor nutrition on children and the implementation of the

recommendations suggestion by various nutritional bodies will lead to better and healthy generation.

3. The result of the research work will be important to parents, government, advisers on child right and

well-being and education planners.

4. Lastly, this research work tends to make her findings and recommendations a good starting point for

the investigation in related field in the near future

Research Question

The following research questions were formulated.

1.What is malnutrition?

2.what are the cause of being malnourished?

3.What is the importance of nutrition of the student?

 CHAPTER II

Background of the Study

The nutritional status of a child is usually described in terms of anthropometry, i.e. body

measurement, such as weight, in relation to age or height, which is reflective of the degree of

underweight or wasting of that child. Food is the prime necessity of life; life cannot be sustained

without an adequate nourishment child needs adequate food for growth and development.

According to the WHO, breast milk has the complete nutritional requirements that a baby needs

for healthy growth and development in the first six months of life. According to the United

Nations Child Emergency Fund (UNICEF), children who are breastfed in the first six months of

life have a six times greater chance of survival as opposed to non-breastfeed children. Children

are malnourished if their diet does not provide adequate nutrients for growth and maintenance

or they are unable to fully utilize the food they eat due to illness (under nutrition).

The health of children and youth is of fundamental importance. Without ensuring optimal

child growth and development efforts to accelerate economic development significantly will be

unsuccessful. Good nutrition is a basic requirement for good health.

Malnutrition is a silent emergency. Malnutrition is both undernutrition and over nutrition

ranging from severe nutrient deficiencies to extreme obesity. Globally; more than one third of

child deaths are attributable to under nutrition. Nutrition plays a key role in physical, mental and

emotional development of children and much emphasis has been given to provide good nutrition

to growing populations especially in the formative years of life.

Eighty percent of the world’s undernourished children live in 20 countries, with India

being home to nearly 60 million children who are underweight. At present in India 48% children

< 5 years age are chronically malnourished and 43% are underweight (NFHS-3). More than half

(54 percent) of all deaths before age five years in India are related to malnutrition. Because of
its extensive prevalence in India, mild to moderate malnutrition contributes to more deaths (43

percent) than severe malnutrition (11 percent). Growth assessment best defines the health and

nutritional status of children because disturbances in health and nutrition regardless of their a

etiology invariably affect child growth and hence provide an indirect measurement of the quality

of life of an entire population.

Review of Related Literature

The following related literature cited in this chapter are several sources of information

and ideas that helped enhance the knowledge of the researcher on how other things or

phenomena are associated to the concern of this study. Thus, these would supplement and

complement to the findings of this study.

The growth of the brain is certainly less affected by undernutrition than the growth of the

rest of the body (brain sparing). We inquire whether a similar phenomenon occurs within the

brain: whether there are differences in sensitivity to undernutrition amongst the brain's

component growth processes. We conclude from our review of the literature that, contrary to

popular belief, undernutrition depresses the growth rate of various processes within the brain to

the same extent. The much quoted “selective” effect on the cerebellum is not an example of an

especially sensitive process. It results from expressing deficits as “% of age control values” and

disappears when proper comparisons of depression in rates of growth are made. The one

growth process which does at first sight appear to be truly especially sensitive is myelin

synthesis, in that undernutrition depresses its rate more than that of other growth processes in

brain. However, undernutrition also results in fewer fibers being myelinated, and when rate of

myelin synthesis is expressed per myelinated fiber the especial sensitivity disappears.
References

Addison, W.H.F. (1911). The development of the Purkinje cells and of the cortical layers in the

cerebellum of the albino rat.J. Comp. Neurol. 21: 459–481.

Balazs, R., Kovacs, S., Cocks, W.A., Johnson, A.L. and Eayrs, J.T. (1971). Effect of thyroid

hormone on the biochemical maturation of rat brain: postnatal cell formation.Brain Res.25: 550–

570.

Bedi, K.S. (1984). Effects of undernutrition on brain morphology: a critical review of methods

and results.Current Topics Res. Synapses 2: 93–163.

Campbell, R.C. (1974).Statistics for Biologists, Cambridge University Press, London

(Peeling, A.N. & Smart, J.L. Metab Brain Dis (1994) 9:33 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01996072)

A descriptive study on Malnutrition

Malnutrition has become an urgent global health issue, with under nutrition killing or

disabling millions of children each year. Malnutrition also prevents millions more from reaching

their full intellectual and productive potential. In children, severe malnutrition accounts for

approximately 1 million deaths annually 1, with approximately 20 million children under the age

of five suffering from severe malnutrition. In India about 2/3 portion of the under five children of

our country is malnourished among them 5–8% is severely malnourished whole rest fall in the

group of mild or moderate malnutrition so it can be said that malnutrition one of the widest

spread conditions affecting child health.

REFERENCE:
1. Darshan sohi. A Text book of nutrition (for nursing course). 1st ed. Jalandhar: PV publications;

2010. p.

2. Integrated child Development services. Available from http://www.wcd.gujarat

gov.in/introduction.html.

3. Williams. Basic nutrition and diet therapy. 12th ed. New Delhi: Elsevier publication; 2000. P. 4.

4. The British Dietetic association, food fact sheet. Available at www.bda.uk.com/food fact

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Anti-natal nutrition: This is the taking in of necessary food substance to prevent the unborn

child from any impairment before and after birth.

Cognitive development: This is the gradual growth of the child’s mental process of

understanding.

Development: This means gradual growth, which becomes more advanced stronger and more

efficient.

Intellectual development: This means the development of the child’s ability to think in a logical

way and understanding.

Malnutrition: This is a poor condition of health caused by a lack of food or lack of the right type

of food.

Motor development: This is the gradual growth of the body movement produced by the

muscular and control by nerves.

Nutrition: This is the series of process by which the living organism obtain food substance

needed to produce energy and materials for their growth, activities and reproduction.

Poor nutrition: This is a situation of having a very small amount of required nutrient.

Post-natal nutrition: This is the process of taking nutrient, needed by a new born child for

proper development both physically, mentally and emotionally.

Pre-natal: This is the taking of necessary food nutrient, needed by pregnant women for the

proper development of the unborn child.

Conceptual Framework
Inadequate Disease

dietary intake

Lack of education &

information

Insufficient
health services
Inadequate maternal & & unhealthy
child care environment

Family and community resources and control

Figure 1.0
Schematic
Political, economic, culturalDiagram
& other basic determinants