Title:The Effectiveness of Counseling and Mung Bean (Vigna radiata L) Premix
Cookies as Complementary Food to Prevent Stunting
Volume: 19
Issue: 3
Author(s): Zuraidah Nasution*, Ida Nurhayati and Mahdiyah
Affiliation:
- Nutrition Department, Health Polytechnic of Ministry of Health Medan, Medan, North Sumatera, Indonesia
Keywords:
Stunting, complementary food, weaning, nutrition, mung bean, malnutrition.
Abstract: Some factors that cause malnutrition in 1-2-year-old children are inadequate provisions
of complementary food and early/late weaning. Appropriate complementary feeding from
the age of 6 months and breastfeeding until at least the age of 2 years is considered the best
feeding pattern for a child’s growth and development. Education and the right food choices are
needed to fulfill children’s nutritional needs in this period to prevent malnutrition which can lead
to stunting. This research was conducted on 52 mothers with 1-2 years old children using a quasi-
experimental design by counseling and providing premix cookies that were produced using
mung bean (Vigna radiata l) as an intervention for 3 months. Data were analyzed using the Chi-
Square correlation test and T-test. This research objective was to determine the effectiveness of
counseling and premix cookies as a complementary food to prevent stunting. The result shows
that premix cookies were 82.14% effective in increasing the children’s body weight and achieving
good nutritional status, therefore preventing the incidence of stunting. This condition was also
supported by the improvement of their mothers’ knowledge and attitude (p = 0.011) in their
concern about complementary feeding. Consuming the given premix cookies can fulfill children’s
nutritional needs: 27.69% protein, 56.59% fat, 24.04% carbohydrates and 56.89% energy.
These findings conclude that mung bean premix cookies are considered effective as a complementary
food in reducing the incidence of stunting.
