Nutrition effectiveness of infants and young children aged 6 to 23 months by Yingyangbao in Lixian County affected by Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan Province

OBJECTIVE: This project aimed to investigate the nutrition status of infants and young children aged 6-23 months before and after the Yingyangbao intervention in Lixian county in Sichuan province. METHODS: The infants and young children aged 6-23 months in Lixian county were fed one sachet Yingyangbao which contains protein vitamins and micronutrients per day for 15 months. The length body weight and hemoglobin were measured for 510 infants and young children featured representative characteristics in Lixian County before and after Yingyangbao intervention. The statistical analysis was conducted to analyze the WAZ HAZ the low weight rate the stunting rate the anemia rate and the hemoglobin concentration of the infants and young children aged 6-11 months 12-17 months 18-23 months and 24-29 months respectively. RESULTS: The results of the statistical analysis showed that the HAZ scores of the infants and young children aged 6-11 and 18-23 months increased 0.51 and 0.44 compared to the baseline respectively. They were significantly higher than those of the baseline (P < 0.05). The stunting rate of young children aged 18-23 months was significantly lower than the baseline (P < 0.05). The concentration of the hemoglobin in each group among the 4 groups increased 12.7 11.4 16.7 and 15.7 g/L compared to the baseline respectively. The total anemia prevalence among infants and young childre in each age group was significantly lower than the baseline (chi2 = 15.863 24.302 37.365 25.990 respectively P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: It was concluded that Yingyangbao which contains quality protein vitamins and micronutrients intervened 15 months could be effective for the growth and improvement of anemia of infants and young children aged 6-23 months.