Published Paper Details:

School-age children constitute a little less than one quarter of the world�s population, and around three quarters of these children live in developing countries (UN,2015) A child�s dietary habits acquired early in childhood continue into adulthood. Understanding the nutritional status of children has far reaching implications for the better development of future generations. The present study was undertaken to assess the nutritional status of 90 school going boys by assessing their general information, anthropometric measurements, clinical and dietary assessment. Dietary assessment was done by 24 hour dietary recall method for three consecutive days. Anthropometric measurements were used to construct indices for malnutrition that were compared to reference values. The results of the study revealed that majority of the subjects (77.0 percent) belonged to Hindu religion, MIG and were vegetarian (70.0-81.11%). Height and weight of the subjects were found to be 98.60 - 101.51 percent and 90.26 � 94.15 percent of the NCHS standards respectively. McLaren classification revealed moderate malnutrition (12.22%), mild malnutrition (34.44 %) and overweight (3.33%) based on weight. According to anthropometric indicator of BMI, majority of the subjects (30-73.33%) belonged to normal category BMI with their mean 14.33, 14.87 and 14.81 kg/m� for the age group of 7, 8 and 9 years respectively. The percent adequacy of food intake was ranging from (56.66-146.26 percent). The percent adequacy of nutrient intake ranged from 73-104.68 percent. Awareness programs regarding affordable but nutritious foods should be introduced by the government through community participation and other sectors.