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[Local Data] Hong Kong preschool diet quality and eating behavior

[Local Data] Hong Kong preschool diet quality and eating behavior

302 HK children aged 30-60 months recruited from local kindergartens

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Data Collections:

  • 24-hour dietary recalls with questionnaires on child eating behavior, parents’ feeding practices, etc.

Key Findings:

Diet quality
  • Consumption of food groups vs. HK Healthy Eating Pyramid for children aged 2-5 years:
    Food groups Consumption Status Results (Daily intake)
    Grain Adequate 4.8 servings vs. the recommended 3-6 servings
    (1 serving = 0.5 cup cooked grain)
    Vegetable Adequate 1.54 servings vs. the recommended 1.5 servings
    (1 serving = 0.5 cup of cooked vegetable)
    Fruit Adequate 1.08 servings vs. the recommended at least 1 serving
    (1 serving = 1 medium size fruit)

    Milk & Dairy
    (including formula milk)

    		 Inadequate 1.6 servings vs. the recommended 2 servings
    (1 serving = 240 mL)
    Meat Excessive 4.3 servings vs. the recommended 2-4 servings
    (1 serving = 1 oz)

     
  • Micronutrients intake:
    Mean intakes of vitamin D, calcium, iron and zinc were significantly lower (p < 0.05) than the Chinese recommended nutrient intakes (Chinese RNIs)

 

Children’s food preferences (% of surveyed children) [top 2 items]
  • Fruit group (34%), followed by milk (23%)
  • Red-colored foods (26%), followed by orange-colored (21%)
  • Foods served at warm temperature (54%), followed by room temperature (22%)

 

Parents’ feeding behavior
  • 77% of parents reported that they sometimes / always experienced difficulties when feeding their child, but only 30% had consulted a healthcare professional
  • 67.4% of parents reported they provided dietary supplements to their child, including cod liver oil (40.8%), vitamin C (19.0%), vitamin A+D (13.6%), multivitamins (8.2%), and vitamin A+D with calcium (4.8%)
  • 36% of children were currently consuming formula milk, in which over 96% of them were consuming cow’s milk-based formula

 

Authors’ Conclusions:

  • The study showed that diet quality among children in Hong Kong needs improvement, and the results may be useful to develop nutrition interventions for improving children’s diet quality

 

WYE-EM-050-MAR-17

Reference

Yip PS, et al. Diet quality and eating behavioral patterns in preschool children in Hong Kong. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2017;26(2):298-307. Link to PubMed