Nutritional Literacy as An Effect Modifier on Undernutrition Incidence among Poor Urban Family in Semarang City

Abstract

Abstract Poverty is the root cause of malnutrition. The Gunung Brintik area, Randusari Village, Semarang City is a pocket of poverty in the center of Semarang City with a poor population of 28.48% and a prevalence of undernutrition of 60%. This study was conducted to analyze the risk factors for undernutrition and analyze maternal nutritional literacy as a modifying effect of undernutrition events in toddlers. The study was conducted with a cross-sectional design involving 97 toddlers in the Mount Brintik RW III and IV areas of Randusari Village, Semarang City. The results showed that 12 variables had associations with the incidence of malnutrition in toddlers, namely gender, history of IMD, history of immunization, history of infectious diseases, energy intake, protein intake, fat intake, carbohydrate intake, maternal education, father’s education, family opinions, and nutritional literacy. The results of the multivariate analysis showed an interaction between family income and nutritional literacy as an interaction variable (p-value: 0.044). OR adjusted family income and nutritional literacy to the incidence of undernutrition obtained OR = 2.37 (1.07-9.38). Families that are economically able but have less nutritional literacy are 2.37 times more likely to have under-five children who are undernourished than families that are economically capable and have good nutritional literacy