merged

Diet Quality of Orang Asli Children in Cameron Highlands and Its
Relationship with Nutritional Status
Foo Gaik Zhen
Supervisor: Dr Asma’ Binti Ali
Bachelor of Food Science (Food Service and Nutrition)
School of Food Science and Technology
Orang Asli have high susceptibility towards inadequate food intake due to high poverty
rate. This will lead to poor diet quality which is closely related to poor nutritional status
especially among the children. However, less study has been done in assessing diet
quality of Orang Asli children in Cameron Highlands. Therefore, this cross-sectional study
will be conducted among 120 Orang Asli children in Cameron Highlands aged 6-9 years
in determining their diet quality and nutritional status. All the children which were
randomly selected will be interviewed for socio-demographic, dietary intake and for
nutritional status assessment. Dietary recall will be obtained by 3 days 24-hours dietary
recall form for the determination of diet quality through Healthy Eating Index-2005.
Meanwhile, nutritional status will be determined through BMI-for-age. Better diet quality
score is associated with better nutritional status. Diet quality of children may play an
important role in determining their nutritional status.
1159 | UMT UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH DAY