[The impact of maternal education on the dietary and nutritional status of preschool children--a case study in 8 provinces of China].

This analysis is based on the data from China Health and Nutrition Survey in collaboration with University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill undertaken in 8 provinces of China from 1993 to 1996. Totally, 1098 mother-child pairs under age 6 were investigated. Descriptive analysis and stratified analysis are applied to investigate the impact of maternal education on the dietary and nutritional status of children. Both the crude analysis and after controlling for confounding variables, maternal education in the population remains statistically relevant to children's dietary and nutritional status. The proportion of low body weight and stunting children is the highest in the group with maternal education level being below preliminary school, the lowest in the group with education level being above high middle school. Moreover, in these three groups, the higher the level of maternal education, the greater the percentage of nutrients intake of China RDA, especially those from animal food. These results fully illustrate the importance of maternal education for the prevention of malnutrition in children.