Nutritional and anthropometric assessment of a sample of pregnant women and young children in Palau.

This study examines the diet and body constitution of a small sample of pregnant women, n = 27, and children, n = 32, enrolled in the Maternal and Child Health program at the Public Health/Community Health Center in Koror, Palau. Twenty-four hour diet recalls were collected from both groups, 17 anthropometric and body composition measurements were made on the women and a range of body measurements from height to a full battery of 28 measures were obtained from the children. Diets were found to be low in energy, calcium and zinc. Women consume micronutrients primarily from fish, traditional starches, vegetables and fruits, while children rely more on fortified grain products and milk. The energy distribution is higher in protein and fat and lower in carbohydrate than earlier reports of adult Palauans. A significant minority of the women (27%) have body fat or body mass index profiles indicative of clinically significant obesity or energy storage deficit, both problematic in terms of pregnancy outcomes. While sample sizes of infant and young child cohorts are very small, our findings indicate that a relatively high proportion of these younger children, have experienced inadequate growth and development This is especially true of females, among whom stunting (height deficients) and especially wasting (weight and arm circumference deficits) were in greater evidence.