THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MUNG BEAN PUDDING SUPPLEMENTATION ON THE NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF CHILDREN AGED 24–59 MONTHS IN POJOK VILLAGE, TAWANGHARJO COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER WORKING AREA

Abstract

The toddler period (0-5 years) is a golden period that determines a child's growth and development. In Indonesia, toddlers face three nutritional challenges: malnutrition, stunting, and overnutrition. Although the malnutrition rate in Grobogan Regency has been suppressed to 3.26%, the Tawangharjo Community Health Center (Puskesmas) experienced a surge in all nutritional indicators from 2023 to 2025. Stunting increased from 8.34% to 20.14%, underweight from 5.76% to 21.64%, and wasting from 7.14% to 12.42%. In Pojok Village, 65 cases of underweight were reported in 2025. Nutritional improvements can be achieved by utilizing local foods as PMT (Food and Nutritional Supplements). One example is mung beans, which are high in protein and can increase toddler weight. This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of mung bean pudding on the nutritional status of toddlers aged 24-59 months in Pojok Village, and to provide the benefits of local food-based innovations for high-nutrition snacks for toddlers.  The study used a pretest-posttest control group design with a quasi-experimental design. The population of 223 toddlers aged 24-59 months was stratified, with a sample size of 66 (33 intervention, 33 control). The study was conducted over 12 days in April 2026. Data normality tests showed that the data were not normally distributed (p<0.05), therefore, the Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney tests were used. Nutritional status improved significantly in both the intervention (p=0.003) and control (p=0.025) groups. There was a significant difference between the two groups (p=0.024) with a large effect size (r≥0.50), indicating that mung bean pudding was more effective than PMT. Mung bean pudding was proven to be superior and more effective than PMT in improving the nutritional status of toddlers and is therefore recommended as a more effective alternative nutritional intervention.