Introduction

1. Affecting factors on defecation frequency among school children Feng SC1, Lei WS1, Liu CS1 and Yang SH1,2 1School of Nutrition and Health Sciences, Taipei Medical University 2Nutrition Research Center, Taipei Medical university Hospital Introduction Results and Discussion Obese children may raise the attack rate of constipation, gastroesophageal reflux and irritable bowel syndrome (Teitelbaum et al., 2009). There are 15% overweight and 12% obese of the 6-12 years old children in Taiwan (Department of Health, DOH). There were 545 valid questionnaires (of 663) were collected, 277(50.1%) boys and 268 girls. The prevalence of overweight and obesity, boy: 11.9%, 13.0% girls: 7.8%, 9.7%. No defecation frequency difference existed in body stature after adjusted sex. The proportions of daily defecation of 3rd-5th grade students were 74.3%, 61.2%, 57.1% respectively. Higher school years children, higher fruit intake (p < 0.05) but no vegetable intake difference existed (p = 0.2055). There was a significant correlation between fruit and vegetable consumption and defecation frequency (p < 0.0001). 73.8% of students with daily intake≧ 2 kinds of fruit also had daily defecation and the relative risk was1.23. 56.2% of students with daily intake≧ 3 kinds of vegetable intake also had daily defecation and the relative risk was1.11 No defecation frequency difference existed between boys and girls after adjusted anthropometric data. Objectives This study purpose is to investigate the effects of vegetables and fruit consumption on defecation status among grade 3rd-5th primary students. Materials & Methods All study participants and their guardians provided informed consent as approved by the Ethics Review Board of the Taipei Medical University. A self-report questionnaire which aimed at the consumption of fruit and vegetables as well as the health condition of defecation was conducted in this study. These statistical analyses were performed using SAS for windows version 9.1. Values were expressed as number, percentage or mean ± SD. Description statistics, Mantel-Haenszel Chi-Square, chi-square test and likelihood ratio chi square test t were used to statistical analysis. Significance was defined as p <0.05. Conclusion Gender and anthropometry did not affect children’s defecation frequency. The affecting factor on defecation was fruit and vegetable consumption.