Intakes of key dietary indicators among children 2‐8 years participating in the Children's Healthy Living (CHL) Program

Abstract

Studies evaluating dietary intakes of children in Alaska, Hawaii, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam are limited. The CHL program is addressing this gap as part of a community trial to prevent childhood obesity. Intervention targets are intakes of fruit (FRT), vegetables (VEG), water, and sugar‐sweetened beverages (SSB) among children 2‐8y. Our objective is to present preliminary data regarding CHL targets using an age‐ and sex‐stratified random sample (n=318) from baseline data. Parents completed 2‐d dietary records which were analyzed with Pacific Tracker 3. The sample was composed of 54% boys, 60% 2‐5y, and 40% 6‐8y. Mean VEG intake was 0.58 cups (sd 1.4) and 8% of children met the 蠅1.5 cups/d of the My Daily Food Plan (MDFP) recommendation. Mean FRT consumption was 0.98 cups (sd 1.1) with 42% meeting the MDFP of 蠅 1 cup. Mean intake of water/d among girls 2‐5y and 6‐8y was 1.5 cups and 1.4 cups, respectively (similar to NHANES, 2‐5y, 1.3 cups and 6‐11y, 1.8 cups). Boys' water intake was 1.5 cups/d for 2‐5y and 2.4 cups/d for 6‐8y compared to NHANES of 1.3 and 1.9 cups, respectively. 68% of children consumed SSB, the most common being sweetened tea. Among those consuming SSB, the mean intake was 2.75 cups/d (sd 3.3) and 40% drank over 2 cups/d. There were no significant differences in any of the targets by sex, age, or jurisdiction. These data support the efforts of the CHL program to improve intakes of FRT and VEG among children in the Pacific region along with reducing consumption of SSB.