Effect of Zinc, Vitamin A-Based School Snack and Nutritional Status on Diarhheal Morbidity among Children Aged 5-7 Years in Tuban: A Crossectional Study

In many developing countries, about 25% of children deaths were due to diarrheal disease. Diarrheal infection and malnutrition have always been intricately related. Micronutrient deficiencies have increased susceptibility to infection, and infection caused food intake disorder, nutrient malabsorption, and intermediary metabolism. Among children ages 5-7 years, school snacks provide almost 40% of the daily intake. This study aimed to determine the effect of zinc and vitamin A containing on school snacks and nutritional status on episodes of diarrheal among children 5-7 years in Tuban. This was an analytical observasional study with crossectional design. This study was conducted in Tuban from March until May 2018. From 521 kindergarten in Tuban district, 11 kindergarten were randomly selected, and 113 children aged 5-7 years were sampled. The data were collected by 3x24 hours food recall, and a set of questionnaire. The data was analyzed used Spearman test with a significance value of p <0.05. This study found that there were no effect between zinc (p=0.336) and vitamin A (p=0.492) contained on school snacks with episodes of diarrhea, but there was significantly effect of nutritional status on episodes of diarrhea (p=0.013). This study conclude that zinc and vitamin A contained on school snacks has no effects on episodes of diarrhea, but nutritional status was significantly related with episodes of diarrhea.