Diets Of Young Children Research Articles

Purchased ready‐to‐eat foods are positively associated with children's animal source food intakes in rural Ghana

Purchased ready‐to‐eat (RTE) foods or street foods are a common part of children's diets in many countries. These foods may contribute to improving children's diet quality. We assessed the relationship between consumption of RTE foods and animal source food (ASF) intake by 2‐ to 5‐y‐old children in rural Ghana. Interviewers collected data on purchase of RTE foods in the past week (N=454). Children's total ASF intakes also were recorded. Among caregivers who had purchased RTE foods (N=370) in the past week, 36 % (N=133) of them had obtained the foods specifically for their 2‐ to 5‐y‐old child. There were no significant differences in sociodemographic characteristics of caregivers who purchased RTE foods for children and those who did not with respect to years of education completed, weekly income, household wealth rank, marital status, and occupation. Children who consumed RTE foods were significantly more likely to have eaten livestock meats, organ meats, chicken, and eggs in the past week compared to children who did not consume any RTE foods (P<0.05). Mean ASF diversity score was significantly higher for children who had consumed RTE foods in the last week compared to children whose diets did not include RTE foods (5.3 ± 2.2 vs. 4.7 ± 2.3; P<0.02). Purchased RTE foods may be an important source of ASF in young children's diets in rural Ghana. GL‐CRSP funded in part by USAID, Grant # PCE‐G‐00‐98‐00036‐00.

Linking Nutrition and Education: A Cross-Generation Model

Psychosocial influences, such as the family or the school, and biologic influences, such as nutrition or the presence of environmental toxins, can be viewed as elements of a child's overall environment. Family and school influences define dimensions of the child's psychosocial environment whereas nutrition and exposure to toxins define dimensions of the child's bioecologic environment. This paper presents a cross-generation model specifying both the nature and consequences of linkages between the psychosocial and bioecologic environments, with specific reference to schooling, nutrition, and development. Data from two studies done in Egypt and Peru are used to illustrate this model, showing how duration of breastfeeding and quality of the young child's diet are positively associated with higher levels of maternal education and intelligence.

A Comparison of Children's Fruit Juice Intake at Ages 48 and 72 Months

The purpose of this study was to compare fruit juice intakes of young children before and after media reports in 1997 that related “excessive” (≤ 12 oz/day) fruit juice intake to short stature and obesity. These reports were based on one research study that has been refuted by a subsequent 1999 study. As part of an on-going longitudinal study of 72 children, beverage intakes at age 48 months (1996, before) and 72 months (1998, after) were determined from 3-day food records/recalls at each age. Beverages, which excluded water, were categorized as juice (100% only), milk, soda pop, and other drinks, a category that included fruit drinks, ades, teas, and coffees. Consumption differences over time were tested with repeated measures analysis of variance followed by the CONTRAST procedure. Although children normally would be expected to increase juice consumption over time as they eat greater quantities of food, results indicate that children's mean juice intake decreased significantly (F=6.77, p=0.01) from a mean of 5.2±5.7 oz/day at 48 months to 3.6±4.2 oz/day at 72 months; this was a 31% decrease. Over this time, children's mean energy intake increased by 230 kcal/day (13%), and their mean body weight increased by 5kg (23%). Thus, the decrease in oz juice/kg weight was 47% (F= 15.75, p=0.0002). Milk and other drink consumption did not change significantly between 48 and 72 months of age. However, concurrent with the significant decrease in juice consumption, children's mean intake of soda pop increased from 2.8 oz/day to 3.8 oz/day (F=3.97, p=0.05). The data suggest that media attention to juice restriction may have had a negative influence on young children's diets (eg increased intake of soda pop and decreased intake of juice, the more nutritious beverage)

Assessing Restricted Diet in Young Children

In this study we examined the utility of using 3-day-diet records to define the degree of diet restrictions for clients of a pediatric feeding problem clinic. Three-day-diet records were analyzed from 54 consecutive cases seen at the clinic and compared to a sample of diet records obtained from the general population. Five nutritional categories-vitamins A and C, zinc, iron, and calcium-were consideredin the study. Nutritional intake was considered to be low and pose a health risk if it fell under 70% of the recommended standard. Results indicated that children in the clinical group were more likely to have dietary intake low in these nutritional categories compared to the general population. With the exception of vitamin A, few children in the control group had an intake below 70% of the recommended standard in these key nutritional categories. Reduced overall caloric intake did not account for this difference. Information from 3-day-diet records appears useful in defining restrictiveness of diet, thus providing an important health-related criteria for accepting children into behavioral treatment and for measuring progress.

Use of Fruit Juice in the Diets of Young Children

Fruit juice is a modern addition to the infant's diet due to the development of technology for juice extraction and an adequate supply of fruit. It has been marketed as healthy, natural, and nutritious. As a result, parents (in trying to do what is best for their infants) have been feeding juices in increasing quantities. In 1992, $164 million was spent on bottled baby juice in the United States according to Information Resources, Inc, a marketing company that tracks the consumer industry. For the past several decades, pediatricians have recognized that excessive consumption of fruit juice has been associated with diarrhea, gassiness, stomachaches, and other abdominal complaints.

The Accuracy of Parental Reports of Their Childrenʼs Intake of Fruits and Vegetables

It has been recommended that U.S. children increase their dietary intake of fruits and vegetables. Measuring diets of children to support and evaluate nutritional interventions can be a difficult task, however. We administered to 97 parents of children age 6-10 years a food frequency questionnaire on their children's usual dietary intake over the previous 3 months. We then compared these reports by parents of their children's intakes of fruits and vegetables, and the derived estimates of intake of carotenoids and vitamins C, A, and E, with the children's serum levels of carotenoids and vitamins C, A, and E. The dietary reports of intakes of 35 fruits and vegetables showed Spearman rank-order correlations of 0.30 with serum carotenoids and 0.34 with serum vitamin C. Children in the highest quartile for intake of fruits and vegetables according to their parents' food frequency reports had 35% higher carotene levels and 31% higher vitamin C levels in their serum than did children in the lowest quartile for intake of fruits and vegetables. We conclude that parental reports of young children's diets using food frequency methods are accurate enough to be useful in nutritional screening and dietary surveillance of fruit and vegetable intake.

Maternal Employment and the Quality of Young Children's Diets: Empirical Evidence Based on the 1987-1988 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey

Data from 442 children, aged 2 to 5, who were participants in the 1987-1988 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey, were examined to determine the effect of maternal employment on the quality of their diets. Diet quality was assessed by examining nutrient adequacy and nutrient overconsumption using the 3-day average of one 24-hour recall and 2 days of written diet records. To assess dietary adequacy, a mean adequacy ratio of the four nutrients (zinc, vitamin E, iron, and calcium) for which 30% or more of the children fell below 77% of the Recommended Dietary Allowances was constructed. Percent calories from fat and saturated fat, and intake of cholesterol and sodium were examined to assess overconsumption. Multiple correlation regression analysis was used to control for household income, maternal education and age, child's age, race, number of siblings aged 5 or younger, presence of male head of household, and number of meals eaten away from home. Maternal employment did not contribute significantly to the variation in any of the dietary variables. Although a number of dietary problems existed among the sample children, the variation in intakes of these nutrients was not directly related to maternal employment status.

Food behaviors of young children: Cognitive and attitudinal factors

Young children's diets are determined to a large degree by their mothers’ nutritional knowledge and food attitudes. The primary purpose of this investigation was to determine the effects of mothers’ nutritional knowledge and food attitudes on their children's nutritional knowledge and food behavior. The subjects were 159 children. They ranged in ages from 7 to 9 years old. Their mothers also participated in the study. Bivariate relationships between pairs of variables were tested using the Pearson product‐moment correlation. The major findings were: (1) Children's nutritional knowledge was related to their mothers’ nutritional knowledge and attitudes of sociability. (2) Mothers’ nutritional knowledge was related to their attitudes of sociability and frugality. Nutritional knowledge was negatively correlated with mother's attitudes toward health and social status. (3) Children's food behavior was related to their nutritional knowledge and their mothers’ nutritional knowledge.

De la grossesse au sevrage, chez les Bassari, les Peul et les Boïn de Salemata (Sénégal oriental)

Abstract A comparison between Bassari (animistic farmers) and Fulani and Boïn (Moslem shepherds and farmers) revealed some similar behaviour but also some differences during the period from pregnancy to weaning. The frequency of geophagy during pregnancy is high (1/3 of women questioned) and identical in both groups. On the contrary, a great majority of Bassari women give birth alone, which is not the case among Fulani and Boïn women. Besides, in the Moslem group, men take no part in this event. On the contrary, among Bassari, very often it is a man (the father most of the time) who cuts and ties the umbilical cord (40 % of the cases) and still more often buries the placenta (60 % of the cases). Concerning feeding, cow's milk does not appear in the diet of the Bassari child ; on the contrary, it is given every day to Fulani and Boïn babies from birth until after they have been weaned. A strict muk diet seems to be shorter among Bassari. In the two groups, breast feeding — when the child asks for it — lasts two years or so ; weaning is sudden but takes place when children have been eating everything for several months. Infant and juvenile mortality, lower in the shepherd's group, could be related to the difference in the young child's diet.

Recent Literature Scarlet Fever and How to Nurse it . By John M. Keating, M.D. Diet for Young Children . By L. Emmett Holt, M.D. Diphtheria . By Henry Dwight Chapin, M.A., M.D. How Children May Have Sound Teeth . By Freeland D. Leslie, M.D.

Recent Literature Scarlet Fever and How to Nurse it . By John M. Keating, M.D. Diet for Young Children . By L. Emmett Holt, M.D. Diphtheria . By Henry Dwight Chapin, M.A., M.D. How Children May Have Sound Teeth . By Freeland D. Leslie, M.D.