Food groups consumed by Saudi Children during the poste weaning to ‎preschool years, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia ‎‏ ‏

Abstract

Abstract:‎ Purpose: healthy eating during early childhoods is important for growth and development. We ‎investigated the types of food groups’ consumption among preschool children. Household interview ‎of the mothers were done to indicate the general features of children food consumption and its ‎related strength and weakness.‎ Methods: Between 2017 and 2019 mother of children aged from 2 to 6 year old were interviewed. The ‎sample was cross sectional convenience sample of n=550. The data gathered describes the children’s ‎food intake and environment factors occurring during the children meals.‎ Results: children aged 2 years were repeatedly offered per day 2.6 of the milk group, 2.2 of the grain, ‎‎2.3 of the fruits, 1.5 of the proteins, 1.2 of the vegetables. An increase in the number of repeated ‎offering of the food groups especially milk and snack high in fat and sugar occurs by the preschool ‎stage. Consumption of food high In fat and sugar starts at the post weaning stage and is offered 1.19 ‎per day and increases to 2.03 per day at the preschool stage. The effect of child gender and maternal ‎education on food intake shows mostly no significance at our present sample size.‎ Discussion: Food uptakes of the milk and grains group were the larger and reached up to 3 times daily. ‎Nutrient intense food such as vegetables, fruits, and protein uptake was around one time per day. ‎And calories intense foods high in fat and sugar the up take starts form the earlier age and increased as ‎the children grow. Our study indicate that 80% of mothers prepared fresh food for the child ‎meals and 60% were present in those meals