Preschool Children's Nutrition Risks Assessed from Caregiver's Reports of Food Intake in Detroit Head Start (HS) Centers

Abstract

Consuming excessive foods high in energy density contributes to obesity, a major health issue in low income preschool children. The primary aim of this research was to explore preschoolers' nutrition risks related to overweight or obesity based on caregiver (CG) report of their child's food intake. Participants included 198 CGs who had a preschool children (mean age: 3 yr 10 ± 7 mo, 95% African American, 57% male) enrolled in one of six Detroit HS centers. CGs completed a 12‐item food‐group food frequency questionnaire for their children using a 3‐point rating scale (0 = no risk, 0.5 = moderate, 1 = high risk), from which a total nutrition risk score was calculated. Based on BMI for age percentile, 8% of the children were underweight (UW), 53% normal weight (NW), 12% overweight (OW) and 27% obese (OB). When separated by weight category, nutrition risk (range: 0–5.5) did not differ among groups (UW=2.5±1, NW=2.4±1.6, OW=2.3±1.6, OB=2.4±1.4, ns). When the food groups were examined as individual items, more than 50% of the children scored at moderate or high risk for intakes of sugar, sweetened beverages, plant protein, fatty and salty foods groups. Among all of the children, higher risks were found in less healthy, energy dense food intake. Reducing intake of fat, sugar‐sweetened soda and salt will help decrease nutrition risks in preschool children in Detroit HS centers and reduce chronic disease in adulthood.