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Dietary variety in toddlers & pre-school children Louise Jones – University of Bristol

Dietary variety in toddlers & pre-school children Louise Jones – University of Bristol. Hab eat. Determining factors and critical periods in food Hab it formation and breaking in E arly childhood: a mul t idisciplinary approach. Variety in Diet - Background.

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Dietary variety in toddlers & pre-school children Louise Jones – University of Bristol

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  1. Dietary variety in toddlers & pre-school children Louise Jones – University of Bristol

  2. Habeat Determining factors and critical periods in food Habit formation and breaking in Early childhood: a multidisciplinary approach

  3. Variety in Diet - Background • Healthy eating messages – eat a variety of foods • It is important that individuals should consume a wide variety of foods from within and across major food groups. • Diets with greater variety are more likely to meet nutrient recommendations than diets with limited variety.

  4. Variety in Diet - Objective • To measure dietary variety in toddlers and preschool children from 4 European Cohorts using FFQ data. • ALSPAC – 24 months, 38 months, 54 months • EDEN – 24 months, 36 months • Generation XXI – 4 years • EUROPREVALL – 3 years • To Establish if early life factors predict dietary variety in later childhood • Breastfeeding status • Age of introduction to solids, fruits and vegetables • Early fruit and vegetable variety, early fruit and vegetable exposure

  5. Variety in Diet - Method • Using a modified version of the variety index for toddlers (VIT) designed by Cox et al. Using FFQ data rather than diary data. (Cox et al 1997 – JADA Vol. 97 No.12 pg.1382 – 1386) • The VIT assesses variety within and among food groups based on the no. of servings recommended for each food group in the Food guide pyramid • The VIT is indicative of dietary adequacy

  6. Variety in Diet - Method • Each of the FFQ response options are assigned a value to calculate daily servings of each food. • The foods are categorised to one of 4 food groups and the number of servings consumed within each food group is totalled • Starchy foods • Fruit & vegetables • Protein foods • Dairy foods

  7. Variety in Diet - Method • This total is then compared to the recommended number of servings for each group to create the food group score • Starchy foods – recommended 7 servings per day • Fruit & vegetables – recommended 5 servings per day • Protein foods – recommended 2 servings per day • Dairy foods – recommended 3 servings per day • Once a food group score is calculated for each of the four food groups, the four scores are averaged to produce a VIT score.

  8. Variety in Diet - Method • Each food group score can range from 0.00 to 1.00. • Each food group score is truncated at 1.00 to ensure that high intake of one food group can not compensate mathematically for low intake in another group • Subjects who consume more than the recommended number of servings are assigned a food group score of 1.00 • To ensure variety within food groups truncations are used • For example in the 38 month FFQ there are 4 questions covering puddings, cakes, biscuits and chocolate biscuits. • These are grouped together and restricted to contributing no more than a quarter of the 7 starchy food servings

  9. Variety in Diet – preliminary results Mean VIT score for ALSPAC & EDEN Cohorts at various ages

  10. Variety in Diet – preliminary results • 24 months – Crosstabs using Chi-square (Two bottom Tertiles combined vs. top Tertile) • In both cohorts variety is positively related to breastfeeding duration • In ALSPAC associated with age of introduction to solids (non-linear),age of introduction to fruit and vegetables – particularly home prepared. There is no association in EDEN • In both cohorts variety is positively related to maternal variety

  11. Variety in Diet – preliminary results • 38 & 36 months - Crosstabs using Chi-square (Two bottom Tertiles combined vs. top Tertile) • In both cohorts variety is positively related to breastfeeding duration • In ALSPAC associated with age of introduction to solids, age of introduction to fruit and vegetables – particularly home prepared. In EDEN there is an association with age of introduction to vegetables only • In both cohorts variety is positively related to maternal variety

  12. Questions • Is this a valid method for assessing variety? • Should we assess fruit and vegetables separately? • Does it matter if an individual has 5 pieces of fruit a day and no vegetables or vice versa is this good variety? • If we separated them what would be the recommended no. of servings for each group? • Certain foods have been excluded from the VIT (as per Cox paper). These include fats & oils, crisps, chocolate confectionary, sugar and sugar confectionary and drinks. • Are we right to exclude these foods ? • If we include these foods how do we categorise them?

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