TY - JOUR
T1 - Dietary Intakes in North Carolina Child-Care Centers
T2 - Are Children Meeting Current Recommendations?
AU - Ball, Sarah C.
AU - Benjamin, Sara E.
AU - Ward, Dianne S.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank Ziya Gizlice, PhD, for statistical analyses and acknowledge The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Clinical Nutrition Research Center grant NIH DK56350.
Funding Information:
Financial support for this research was provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cooperative agreement (2004-R-07) through the American Schools of Public Health.
PY - 2008/4
Y1 - 2008/4
N2 - The purpose of this study was to determine whether food consumed by children while in center-based child care meets the new MyPyramid food group recommendations for children 2 to 5 years of age. Dietary observation of 117 children from 20 child-care centers throughout North Carolina was conducted. The type and amount of food served to and consumed by children was observed and assessed using Nutrition Data System for Research (NDS-R) software (version 2005, Nutrition Coordinating Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). Portion sizes were then compared to the new MyPyramid food group recommendations to see whether 1/2 to 2/3 (for time spent in full-day child care) of the recommended amounts were consumed. On average, of the five main food groups, children consumed only the 1/2 to 2/3 recommendation for milk. Children also consumed less than 13% of MyPyramid recommendations for whole grains and 7% of MyPyramid recommendations for dark vegetables. Also noteworthy, 50% of milk consumed was whole milk and 75% of the meat consumed was of the high-fat or fried variety. Overall, our data suggest that children are not consuming recommended amounts of whole grains, fruits (excluding 100% fruit juice), or vegetables while attending full-time child care, and are consuming excess amounts of saturated fat and added sugar.
AB - The purpose of this study was to determine whether food consumed by children while in center-based child care meets the new MyPyramid food group recommendations for children 2 to 5 years of age. Dietary observation of 117 children from 20 child-care centers throughout North Carolina was conducted. The type and amount of food served to and consumed by children was observed and assessed using Nutrition Data System for Research (NDS-R) software (version 2005, Nutrition Coordinating Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). Portion sizes were then compared to the new MyPyramid food group recommendations to see whether 1/2 to 2/3 (for time spent in full-day child care) of the recommended amounts were consumed. On average, of the five main food groups, children consumed only the 1/2 to 2/3 recommendation for milk. Children also consumed less than 13% of MyPyramid recommendations for whole grains and 7% of MyPyramid recommendations for dark vegetables. Also noteworthy, 50% of milk consumed was whole milk and 75% of the meat consumed was of the high-fat or fried variety. Overall, our data suggest that children are not consuming recommended amounts of whole grains, fruits (excluding 100% fruit juice), or vegetables while attending full-time child care, and are consuming excess amounts of saturated fat and added sugar.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jada.2008.01.014
DO - 10.1016/j.jada.2008.01.014
M3 - Article
C2 - 18375233
AN - SCOPUS:41049114021
SN - 0002-8223
VL - 108
SP - 718
EP - 721
JO - Journal of the American Dietetic Association
JF - Journal of the American Dietetic Association
IS - 4
ER -