Determinants of normal nutrition among 0–59-month-old Filipino children living in low-income households

Background: An alternative concept in understanding malnutrition among 0 to 59-month-old children from low-income households is to look at and understand factors contributing to their good nutritional status. Aim: (a) Compared nutritional status of children across age groups in terms of weight-for-age, length/height-for-age, weight-for-length/height and body mass index-for-age z scores; (b) determined and compared selected characteristics of children and mothers across age; (c) identified factors affecting normal nutritional status of these children. Methods: Cross-sectional data from the Philippines' 8th National Nutrition Survey among 1,990 children. Differences in mean values measured using analysis of variance; chi-square test for assessing significance of association between children with normal nutritional status across child and maternal characteristics; and multivariate logistic regression to calculate adjusted odds ratio (AORs). Results: Younger (AOR =1.63–2.54), female children (AOR=1.20), mothers neither pregnant nor lactating (AOR=1.18), have high school, vocational (AOR=1.65) or college level education (AOR=2.02), household use of water-sealed toilet (AOR=1.26), having nuclear family types (AOR=1.25) indicated protection against undernutrition. Behavior-related factors that significantly predict normal nutrition among the children were “acceptable” food consumption score among households (0 to 5 and 6 to 23 months old), delivery in health facilities (6 to 23 months old) and household use of water-sealed toilets (24 to 59 months). Conclusion: Based on the findings, activities and programs can be tailored around the behavior-related factors identified depending on the target age group, and pursued in crafting interventions to maintain normal nutrition among the children.